Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester said he was surprised state Sen. Bill Ketron was named an “Outstanding Senator” by a group of county officials after his display of grandstanding and partisan politics during the past legislative session.

“Sen. Ketron is leading the charge to deny fair and accurate elections here in Tennessee,” Forrester said. “He and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey said they will bring back legislation to delay the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act as soon as the state Legislature reconvenes in January. Their legislation failed last session, but they are determined to try again.

“They are snubbing their noses at a law enacted to protect the integrity of our elections. Most of our counties use machines that cannot provide any proof that a person’s vote was cast. The Tennessee Voter Confidence Act was overwhelmingly passed into law to correct that.”

The law requires all county election commissions to make the switch to paper ballots counted by optical scan machines before the November 2010 elections.

“Now we have a Republican secretary of state and a Republican state election coordinator who, along with some other partisan lawmakers, have misled the general public into believing we cannot purchase the machines because of the way the law was written. That is an absolute lie and the court has already ruled the state must proceed with purchasing these machines,” Forrester said.

Common Cause Tennessee filed a lawsuit compelling the secretary of State to implement the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act after Secretary of State Tre Hargett and State Election Coordinator Mark Goins argued they could not purchase machines failing to comply with 2005 standards adopted by the federal Election Assistance Commission.

“The TVCA does not require the voting system to be implemented by the State of Tennessee to meet 2005 standards,” Davidson County Chancellor Russell Perkins ruled at a Nov. 5 hearing. “The Court determines that the State is obligated to take prompt, effective steps to meet the statutory deadline using compliant voting systems.”

Tennessee has more than $35 million in federal funds set aside to purchase the optical scan machines and train election workers to use the voting technology.

“I am disappointed that the County Officials Association of Tennessee awarded Mr. Ketron this honor after all he has done to deny Tennesseans the right to have fair and accurate elections,” Forrester added.