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Note from The Tennessee Conservative: Editorial statements in this column are the sole opinion of the author; they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the staff of this publication.
Submitted by Lex Greene –
After watching the failure of the most constitutional bill ever presented to the most deep RED legislature in the nation, the Tennessee legislature, I can state with absolute certainty, one critically important fact… (TN SB2484) Election Integrity is DEAD and GONE in the USA.
Tennessee is by far the most deep RED conservative state in the USA, with only two BLUE counties and 93 of 95 counties RED, as of the 2024 elections. Shelby County (Memphis) has been BLUE forever. Davidson County (Nashville) has only recently gone BLUE, due to migration from numerous BLUE sanctuary cities across the country experiencing a mass exodus from democrat policies that have destroyed those cities and states.
SB2484 (and companion HB2613) would have prevented any “non-natural born Citizen” from appearing on a Tennessee ballot, as it pertains to the offices of President and Vice President. (Bill Summary Here)
Tennesseans and most Americans have assumed that when a candidate’s name appears on their ballot, the candidate has been properly vetted and confirmed to be eligible for the office being sought, whether local, state or federal public offices. That assumption has been proven wrong over the years.
A nine-member Tennessee Senate Committee killed the bill on March 24th, 2026, protecting the ability of non-natural born Citizens to run for and occupy the offices of President and Vice President. In doing so, they also eliminated any reason in law, for state election officials to properly vet any candidates for any public offices, before placing their names on a Tennessee ballot.
Voters are left to vet all candidates themselves, before casting a ballot, as ineligible candidates will continue to appear on ballots all across the country.
This Senate Committee is comprised of seven Republicans and two Democrats. Both democrats and all but one republican voted to kill this entirely constitutional bill. Just one republican senator on the Committee voted to pass the bill for a full senate vote, Senator Kerry Roberts from Springfield Tennessee.
The other eight members seemed to have decided to block this bill from a full senate vote, before today’s hearing even took place. “No” votes include the following Tennessee Senators.
- Senator Richard Briggs (R)
- Senator Page Walley (R)
- Senator Tom Hatcher (R)
- Senator Todd Gardenhire (R)
- Senator Ed Jackson (R)
- Senator Sara Kyle (D)
- Senator Adam Lowe (R)
- Senator Jeff Yarbro (D)
It won’t surprise anyone to learn that the two democrats on the committee, Kyle and Yarbro, voted against the measure, as democrats across the country at every level of government have fought against any and all efforts to establish Election Integrity on behalf of all legal American Citizens.
But in this case, the Republicans on the Committee could have easily passed this bill without those two votes, holding a 7-to-2 majority on the panel.
So, why did six of the seven Republicans on the panel vote against the most constitutional Election Integrity Bill ever before the Committee?
After TNALC.org co-founder and Model Bill author J.B. Williams gave testimony on the bill, the Committee Chairman Senator Richard Briggs tipped the hand of the committee republicans in a single question to Williams, just ahead of the vote…
“Mr. Williams, under this Bill, would Ted Cruz be allowed to appear on a Tennessee ballot for the office of President or Vice President?”
Williams answered the question directly… “No, as Ted Cruz was born in Canada at a time when both of his parents were legal citizens of Canada, which is why Senator Ted Cruz has only a Canadian birth record, and no USA birth record. On the basis of Natural Law, Mr. Cruz is not a natural-born Citizen of the USA.”
The fact in the Cruz case is that his father was never a legal Citizen of the USA until Ted helped his father to naturalize to the USA in 2005, when Ted was about 40-years old.
“Rafael Cruz became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2005, after previously holding Cuban and Canadian citizenship.”
This question and answer sealed the deal and moments later, the Committee shot down the Bill with only one supporting vote from the only ethical member of the Committee, Senator Kerry Roberts.
The reason for Committee Republicans blocking the Bill is clear at this point. The motivation was merely political. They wanted to protect the ability of non-natural born REPUBLICAN Citizens like Cruz, Rubio, and others, to appear on Tennessee ballots, despite the proven fact that they are constitutionally ineligible for the office under Article II requirements.
Democrat Yarbro pulled a slick trick by waiting until Williams was no longer able to respond to Committee questions or comments before stating for the record… “It’s silly to suggest that anything in government is based on Natural Law.”
Apparently, Senator Yarbro either doesn’t know, or doesn’t care, that Natural Law is our Founders cornerstone for everything in the Charters of Freedom. (Yarbro is a lawyer by trade)
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them;”
When something so constitutionally fundamental to the protection of the United States as enforcement of the Article II requirement for the most powerful political offices on earth, President and Vice President, can’t even pass in the most deep RED state in the USA where Republicans hold the Governorship and a super-majority in both legislative chambers, there’s only one way to read this event…
No matter how the legal American Citizens attempt to resecure USA Elections to just legally eligible voters and candidates, both major political parties seem committed to preventing any such measures from ever becoming law anywhere in the USA.
This means that Election Integrity in the USA is a fantasy, and that we are fast approaching a moment in history when no matter who we elect, there will be no peaceful political solutions to anything.
This condition is the direct result of legal Americans failing in their duty to be “forever vigilant” in defense of their own freedom, liberty, justice and honorable elections!
Hats off to House Rep. Bud Hulsey for his leadership on HB2613, J.B. Williams, TNALC.org, TN SB2484 Sponsor Senator Janice Bowling, and Tennessee Senator Kerry Roberts for their honorable efforts to prevent the foreign occupation of the People’s White House, and all other political offices.
About the Author: Tennessee citizen Lex Greene is an American historian and constitutional commentator on modern issues and events.
2 Responses
Hats off to Mr. Green for an intriguing column concerning the death of election integrity in Tennessee.
But, actually, integrity in Tennessee’s elections ended a while back. Despite concerned citizens researching the many ways the state legislature and the state’s election bureaucrats continue to block efforts to make our elections safer, more secure, accurate, trustworthy and transparent, Secretary of State Tre Hargett, State Election Coordinator Mark Goins, the State Election Commission and legislators have blown off all proof of inferior and questionable election equipment and procedures.
Here’s a one-pager documenting a portion of our research that proves our elections are anything but safe and secure. https://tennesseeelectionintegrity.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Election-integrity-in-one-page-4-032726.pdf.
Frank Limpus
http://www.TennesseeElectionIntegrity.com
No, the failure of Tennessee SB2484 is not “killing Election Integrity” in the USA. That’s hyperbolic language from a strongly worded conservative op-ed. What SB2484 actually was…. SB2484 (and companion HB2613), introduced in early 2026, was titled the “Tennessee Ballot Access Act. “It aimed to tighten ballot access rules for candidates running for office in Tennessee. Specifically, it added stricter requirements involving definitions of “citizen” and “natural born citizen,” along with other hurdles for getting on the ballot. The bill focused on candidate eligibility and qualification processes rather than core election administration issues like voter ID, mail-in voting security, ballot harvesting, chain-of-custody, or voter rolls. It was not a broad, comprehensive election integrity bill covering things like:
Proof of citizenship for voters
Same-day voter registration restrictions
Audits of voting machines
Limits on absentee/mail ballots
Closing primaries to only registered party members
It stalled/deferred in the Senate State and Local Government Committee (as of mid-March 2026). The op-ed by Lex Greene dramatically called this “the failure of the most constitutional bill ever” and declared election integrity “DEAD and GONE in the USA. “Why it’s Overstating It… Tennessee already has relatively strong election laws even for a deep-red state (strict voter ID, no same-day registration, paper ballots with audits, etc.). One bill failing doesn’t erase the existing safeguards. Tennessee leads the pack of states that allowed the Feds to audit the voter rolls having only 42 issues/people referred to the FBI for investigation. This makes Tennessee among the leading states if not the leader for voter integrity.
This was one specific bill about candidate ballot access not the entire foundation of election security. Many other election-related bills move through Tennessee’s legislature every session, and some pass some don’t. Between RINO’s and Dems and the a-holes we lose a few… Pisses me off to lose the good bills too. “Most constitutional bill ever” though is subjective hype. Reasonable people can disagree on whether stricter natural-born-citizen-style requirements for all candidates are wise or even constitutional at the state level (federal offices already have their own constitutional rules).
National election integrity is not dead because one state bill in one committee failed. Election rules are handled mostly at the state level. Dozens of states continue to pass or maintain voter ID laws, signature verification, voter roll maintenance, etc. Problems exist in many places, but one failed bill in Tennessee doesn’t “kill” the concept nationwide. SMH
Realistically….. The frustration in the op-ed is understandable if the author believes the bill was a strong, common-sense measure that should have sailed through a Republican supermajority legislature. Internal GOP disagreements, procedural issues, or concerns about the bill’s scope likely played a role in but not entirely… that stalled it. However, claiming this single failure means election integrity is dead across America is classic over-the-top rhetoric. It’s not accurate. Election security has many moving parts, and Tennessee (like most red states) still has more protections than many blue states. If conservatives in Tennessee want stronger rules, they can reintroduce similar or better versions next session, push different bills, or focus on other proven integrity measures. Bottom line: The bill not passing is a setback for its specific goals, but it is nowhere close to ending election integrity in Tennessee or the country. The sky is not falling.