A federal judge has granted a temporary order barring Republican Election Commission Chairman Tom Walker from firing Rutherford County Election Administrator Hooper Penuel.
The order is the latest in a federal lawsuit against Walker and seven other Republicans who plaintiffs claim are violating the United States Constitution with politically motivated firings of county election administrators.
County election administrators are appointed by local election commissions, and state law required those commissions to have Republican majorities because the GOP gained control of the legislature last year.
Some of those new commissions have ousted election administrators who were appointed by commissions with Democratic majorities. In their lawsuit, the eight administrators say the moves are unlawful.
At a hearing Friday, U.S. District Judge John Nixon approved a temporary restraining order barring Rutherford’s election commission from moving to fire Penuel.
Penuel is the only one of the eight defendants who still works as an election administrator, though court filings say he was told his firing is imminent.
Rutherford County’s Republican election commissioners voted to spend Rutherford County tax payer money on lawyers from Chattanooga to defend themselves in the federal lawsuit. The bill to defend Walker’s behavior could cost Rutherford County tax payers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester responded to the federal court’s order:
“This decision puts the brake on what appears to be a wholesale removal of election administrators across the state,” Forrester said. “Why would you fire people who have such a wealth of experience and knowledge of the election process if it weren’t political patronage?
“These firings and the refusal of Secretary of State Tre Hargett to implement the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act leads me to believe there is an organized effort by Republicans to obstruct fair and verifiable elections.”
