2018 Tennessee Code
Title 2 - Elections
Chapter 5 - Ballots and Supplies
Part 2 - Ballots and Supplies
§ 2-5-205. Presidential preference primary -- Printing of names on ballot -- Withdrawal of name.
(a) The names of candidates for president of the United States shall be printed on the ballot for the presidential preference primary only if they are:
(1) The names of persons whom the secretary of state, in the secretary of state's sole discretion, has determined are generally advocated or recognized as candidates in national news media throughout the United States. The secretary of state shall submit the names to the state election commission no later than the first Tuesday in December of the year before the year in which the election will be held. If a candidate who has been certified by the secretary of state wishes to be a candidate in the presidential primary of a party other than that for which the secretary of state certified the candidate, the candidate shall signify the candidate's political party preference to the state election commission no later than twelve o'clock (12:00) noon, prevailing time, on the date established in subsection (b), and the candidate's name shall be certified only for the ballot of the candidate's chosen party, as the case may be.
(2) The names of persons for whom nominating petitions, signed by at least two thousand five hundred (2,500) registered voters of the party whose nomination is sought and by the candidate, are filed not later than twelve o'clock (12:00) noon, prevailing time, on the first Tuesday in December of the year before the year in which the election will be held. The nominating petitions shall be filed with the state election commission and certified duplicates with the coordinator of elections and with the chair of the candidate's party's state executive committee. No candidate may enter the presidential primary of more than one (1) statewide political party.
(b) The secretary of state shall advise each of the prospective candidates by the most expeditious means available that, unless a candidate withdraws the candidate's name by twelve o'clock (12:00) noon, prevailing time, on the second Tuesday in December of the year before the year in which the election will be held, the candidate's name will appear on the ballot of the candidate's party in the presidential preference primary. If such a person executes and files with the state election commission an affidavit stating without qualification that the candidate is not and does not intend to become a candidate for president in the forthcoming presidential election, the candidate's name shall not be on the ballot.
(c) The secretary of state shall certify to the county election commissions on the third Thursday in December the names which this section requires to be on the ballot for each political party.
