Some of the candidates vying to be the next Mayor of Nashville are ready to hit the campaign trail, but the date of the election is up in the air.
The Tennessee Supreme Court is expected to issue an opinion on the case this week. Both sides presented their arguments to justices Monday afternoon.
The Davidson County Election Commission voted in March to hold the mayoral election on Aug. 2.
Mayoral Candidate Ludye Wallace filed a lawsuit shortly after that vote, claiming the Election Commission violated the Metro Charter and state law with the vote. He is calling for a special election to be held in May.
“It should be clear on when the election will be held,” said Wallace outside the courthouse. “They shouldn’t chose a date arbitrarily.”
The Metro Charter states an election to fill a vacancy in the mayor’s office must take place during the next general metropolitan election, unless it is more than 12 months away. An attorney representing the city argued the August election meets this requirement.
However, an attorney for Wallace argued the August election is not a general election because it does not typically have races for mayor and vice mayor. Wallace said the next general election is in August 2019, which means a special election needs to be called between 75 or 80 days after Megan Barry left office. This would put the election date in May.
The election is necessary after Megan Barry resigned on March 6.
A total of 14 candidates have been certified to run for Mayor. If the election is still held in August, the winner would serve until August of 2019.
