2010 Tennessee Code
Title 2 - Elections
Chapter 17 - Contested Elections
2-17-103 - Contests for office of presidential and vice presidential elector.

2-17-103. Contests for office of presidential and vice presidential elector.

(a)  Contests for the office of presidential and vice presidential elector shall be decided finally and unreviewably before the last day of November by the presidential electors tribunal composed of the governor, secretary of state and attorney general and reporter.

(b)  A petition of contest shall be filed with the secretary of state and a copy of the petition delivered to the chair of the state executive committee of the political party against whose electors the complaint is made within ten (10) days after the election. The petition shall state each ground of complaint specifically and concisely.

(c)  A hearing shall be held on the petition between the fifth and tenth day after it is filed at a time and place set by the governor. The governor shall publish a notice of the hearing in each grand division in a newspaper of general circulation. No other pleadings are required. The complaining political party or candidate for elector and each other candidate may be present at the hearing in person and by counsel, may examine and cross-examine witnesses, and may introduce evidence relevant to the grounds of protest.

(d)  The governor may administer oaths and subpoena witnesses for the tribunal. The hearing is not subject to the rules of evidence as applied in courts.

(e)  After deciding the contest by majority vote, the tribunal shall record its decision and file it with the returns of the election. The governor, secretary of state, and the attorney general and reporter shall then proceed under § 2-8-110 as in uncontested elections.

[Acts 1972, ch. 740, § 1; 1978, ch. 754, § 15; T.C.A., § 2-1703.]