Rep. Justin Jones to stay on ballot after Republican candidate challenges validity of his qualifying petition

Ethan Illers
·2 min read
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) will remain on the ballot after a Republican candidate challenged the validity of the signatures on his qualifying petition to run again for the Tennessee General Assembly.

Republican candidate for District 52, Laura Nelson, led the push to have Jones removed.

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Tennessee law requires candidates up for a House seat to have 25 signatures on the qualifying petition of registered voters who live in the district. Nelson’s evidence included poking holes in Jones’ petition, alleging three of the names did not match their signatures.

Jones and several of his supporters showed up to Thursday’s Metro Election Commission meeting while commissioners debated whether to accept the signatures.

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“I don’t so much have an issue with [two of the signatures]. The initials they used are very similar to those corresponding letters in the name on their registration documents…my problem in a major way, quite frankly, is with [one woman’s signature], and it relates not only to her signature, but to the printed part of it,” Commissioner Will Burns said during Thursday’s meeting.

“I would just point out that my signature is actually also just initials because ‘Tricia Herzfeld’ is really long to write, the F and the Z…and if you look at the minutes that I just signed – I’m the secretary, so I have to sign the minutes – if you look at every single one of them, you can’t read my signature. It is literally a ‘T, scribble, H, scribble,’ and like that’s my signature,” Commissioner Tricia Herzfeld added.

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In the end, the commission voted to accept all 25 signatures.

Nelson and Jones will compete for District 52’s seat in the November elections.

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