Friday Recap December 5th, 2025

My Comment

By now the whole world knows that Matt Van Epps is our new U.S. Representative for Tennessee District 7. He won by 9% in a district that Trump won by 20%. Here are some stats from the election. The first is all counties results. You will notice that there is a discrepancy between the two spreadsheets regarding total votes for Williamson County; that is because the state doesn't count write-ins, undervotes or overvotes which, combined, accounts for the 21 vote difference.

U.S. District 7 Results

Williamson County results

Official Williamson County Election Commission District 7 results here

Many of us were wondering why it took so long to post the election results from our county. Chad Cray (Election Administrator) explained the reason:

• Results were delayed because approximately 100 voters were in line at 7:00 PM at one vote center, and law requires every voter in county must vote before tabulating early voting results.
• Several voters in line thought they were in District 7 but were actually in District 5, requiring significant time to validate addresses and ensure those entitled to vote could vote.

BOMA is considering implementing Infrastructure development district policy

This is controversial, and we need to understand what all this means. BOMA discussed a draft of this policy for the city of Franklin in their last Work Session: Infrastructure Development Districts. There is good, bad and ugly in this concept. It has been implemented a numerous locals across the country. In many cases, it has been successful, but in others disastrous. Here is an article that, I think, sums up the risks involved in IDDs. To be clear, I am not suggesting that Franklin is in error by considering this funding mechanism, only that we should be very careful going forward.

The Franklin BOMA work session and meetings are next Tuesday and I have full information in my report below. Two issues of import: 1. The discussion of adopting Infrastructure Development Districts and 2. Annexing a property next to the Harlin Project that will potentially provide access to this development that was denied by the county. I recommend you peruse the agendas for both meetings.

The County Property Committee will be meeting on Wednesday. Time and place are in my report below, but here are topics to be discussed. You are welcome to attend and speak if you wish.

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The AI program I use is pretty accurate, but it does make mistakes from time to time and I don't always catch them. I provide agendas and videos/audios when I have them available and recommend that you watch the video and follow along with the summary to get the most accurate report.

One of the limitations of AI is that if a participant's name is not called out, then they are listed as participant 1, 2, etc. A limitation with audio, as opposed to video, is that one cannot always identify a person by voice alone. As imperfect as these AI summaries are, they still give a pretty good account of a meeting.

Williamson County School District

The only meeting in December is the Policy Committee meeting that will be held on December 15th. I will have information on that once it's published by WCS.

Williamson County Commission

Tuesday December 2nd

The Opioid Abatement Taskforce met and I have no further information.

Wednesday December 3rd

The Highway Commission met Agenda I have no further information.

Wednesday December 10th

The Property Committee will meet at 5:30 pm in the Executive Conference Room of the Williamson County Administrative Complex at 1320 W. main, Franklin Agenda/Minutes Video Committee members: Ricky Jones (C), Barb Sturgeon (VC), Brian Clifford, Jennifer Mason, Matt Williams

Thursday December 11th

County Planning Commission will meet at 5:30 pm in the auditorium of the Williamson County Administrative Complex at 1320 W. main, Franklin Agenda. Video at 5:30 pm and thereafter. There is a lot going on in this meeting and I suggest that read the agenda carefully; there are a number of concept reviews that include public hearings and several Zoning changes.

Special Note: Since Williamson County does not record any meetings other than the commission, budget committee and planning commission meetings, I am recording all the meetings that I attend on my iPhone. Starting on January 1, 2026, all county committee meetings will be recorded and posted on the county website.

Board of Mayor and Aldermen

Tuesday December 9th

BOMA Work Session will meet at 4:00 pm in the Executive Conference Room of the Williamson County Administrative Complex at 1320 W. main, Franklin Agenda, Video Starts at 4:00 pm and thereafter.

Tuesday December 9th

BOMA Board will meet at 7:00 pm in the Executive Conference Room of the Williamson County Administrative Complex at 1320 W. main, Franklin Agenda , Video Starts at 7:00 pm and thereafter.

For all other City of Franklin meetings for next week, go here

Election Commission

Friday December 5th

Election Commission met Agenda Audio

AI Summary

Action Items

• [ ] Chad Gray - Prepare background on qualification challenges For next meeting discussion on adopting qualification challenge procedures. Include info on residency challenges and whether challenges are typically partisan or non-partisan.

Overview

• Commission certified December 2nd District 7 special election results with 27,716 total voters (14,800 early/absentee, 12,900 election day) representing nearly 50% turnout
• Laura Say reported serious voter intimidation incident at First Presbyterian on Tuesday, December 2nd between 8:30-8:45 AM involving two men who screamed at and threatened Democratic poll greeters, with witnesses describing extremely foul language and physical intimidation
• Commission successfully relocated polling from Independence High School to Tollgate clubhouse and accommodated 1,000 voters despite expecting only 250 based on primary turnout
• Commission accepted primary calls from both county parties for Tuesday, May 5th, 2026 election, with Democratic Party declining to call primary for Franklin Special School District seats while Republican Party included them
• Firmware upgrade scheduled for first full week of January 2026 and Windows 10 upgrade planned before end of December 2025

Alleged voter intimidation incident at First Presbyterian

• Laura Say reported that on Tuesday, December 2nd between 8:30-8:45 AM, two men exited a white truck and one said to the other "Let's go cause some trouble"
• The men approached Democratic poll greeters (two older women and one older man) and began screaming at them with extremely foul language while children were present in voting line
• Larger man attempted to intimidate volunteers with his size, looming over them and pointing fingers in their faces without quite touching them
• One senior woman volunteer stepped in front of male volunteer because she feared the men would hit him
• GOP volunteer holding sign for opposing candidate apologized to Democratic volunteers for the men's behavior
• Men were so loud that poll workers inside heard them and came outside to calm them down
• One of the men was not a District 7 resident and was not allowed to vote
• Tennessee Democratic Party volunteer lawyer believes the incident constitutes illegal voter intimidation but cannot pursue legal action without names of the men
• Security footage at First Presbyterian may help identify the individuals who were driving a distinctive white truck with two dogs hanging out the window
• Chairman Duda stated this was first he heard of incident and encouraged individuals with direct experience to contact poll officials and law enforcement rather than providing third-party accounts
• Chairman Duda expressed concern about the type of activity described and committed to look into it

District 7 special election recap

• Commission relocated polling from Independence High School to Tollgate clubhouse after school officials expressed concerns about co-mingled hallway in new science and math building and home basketball game from 3:00-7:00 PM
• Tollgate accommodated 1,000 voters compared to only 250 voters at Independence during primary election
• Chairman worked the Tollgate location in morning and afternoon, observed some challenges with voter flow and outdoor waiting, and has ideas for improvements if site is used in future
• Tollgate residents appreciated having local convenient voting location and some walked to the polls
• League of Women Voters submitted report acknowledging challenges at Tollgate
• Commission will discuss whether to continue using Tollgate or return to Independence High School
• Total turnout was 14,800 early and absentee voters plus 12,900 election day voters for 27,716 total, representing nearly 50% of active voter registrations
• Commission believes Williamson County led all 14 counties in turnout percentage
• Results were delayed because approximately 100 voters were in line at 7:00 PM at one vote center, and law requires every voter in county must vote before tabulating early voting results
• Several voters in line thought they were in District 7 but were actually in District 5, requiring significant time to validate addresses and ensure those entitled to vote could vote
• First Presbyterian had largest turnout on election day with approximately 2,100 voters
• Commission took additional registrar tables to at least one location and additional ballot marking devices to another location to accommodate turnout
• Commission opened Longview Rec Center despite staff predicting low turnout, and more District 5 voters showed up believing they could vote than District 7 voters who were entitled to vote
• Chairman Duda thanked Tollgate residents and homeowner associations for making clubhouse available on short notice
• Chairman Duda thanked poll workers, poll watchers, and all involved in the process

Certification of December 2nd election results

• Commission unanimously certified results of December 2nd, 2025 special District 7 congressional general election with 4-0 vote
• Commissioners signed certificate of election results in blue ink

Primary election calls from county parties

• Commission received call for primary from Williamson County Republican Party Chairman Hickey on August 13, 2025
• Commission received call for primary from Williamson County Democratic Party Chair Reagan Grossman on August 18, 2025
• Democratic Party did not call for primary election for three seats on Franklin Special School District Board of Education
• Democratic primary voters will not have Franklin Special School District contests on their ballot
• Democratic Party called for primary for county school board districts 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12
• Democratic Party letter stated commitment to nonpartisan school board elections as reason for not calling Franklin Special School District primary
• Republican Party requested Franklin Special School District Board of Education be included in their primary
• Commission unanimously accepted both party calls for Tuesday, May 5th, 2026 county primary election ballot with 4-0 vote

Candidate qualification challenge procedures

• Chairman Duda introduced discussion about adopting policy for placing qualified candidate names on ballot pursuant to TCA 2-5-204 regarding reasonable time frames for quasi-judicial hearing
• Davidson County Election Commission is considering qualification challenge procedure today
• Chairman Duda requested item remain on next agenda as discussion item and will schedule separate meeting to adopt policy if commission chooses to proceed
• Chairman Duda wants to wait until Davidson County completes their process since they're working with Tennessee Division of Elections legal department
• Chairman Duda noted commission has experienced qualification challenges in past elections, including one election with multiple people challenging candidate qualifications
• Challenges typically involve residency requirements and questions about whether candidates resided in district or municipality they sought to represent
• County parties handle their own membership and candidate slate procedures for primaries
• Commission is responsible for certifying candidates and ballot preparation once candidates are certified
• Chad Gray explained Davidson County had situation where qualification challenge process took so long they feared missing deadlines for military and overseas citizen ballots and held up voting equipment programming
• Chairman Duda intends to keep item as discussion topic on future agendas until commission has document ready to adopt

Voter registration form review

• Commission completed review of new voter registration forms and found some delinquencies
• Delinquencies were errors in notating questions
• Commission prepared report acknowledging delinquencies that commissioners will sign

System firmware and Windows upgrades

• Firmware upgrade with vendor Election Systems and Software scheduled for first full week of January 2026
• Windows 10 upgrade scheduled to be completed before end of December 2025
• Chairman Duda contacted Williamson County IT department to take inventory of all systems
• Machines operate on Windows 10 professional versions (not home versions) that are currently supported by Microsoft
• Commission planned to wait until after election cycle to patch machines

If not me, who?

If not now, when?

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1)

“We work hard with our own hands. When we are vilified, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer gently.” (1^st Corinthians 4:12-13)

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves" (Philippians 2:3)

Blessings,

Bill

pettyandassociates@gmail.com

Community resources

If you like Friday Recap, check out these other grassroots conservative projects!

• Grassroots Citizens of Williamson County Provides free tools and information to help grassroots conservatives exercise their citizenship here in Williamson County.
• Tennessee Voters for Election Integrity is helping restore confidence in Tennessee Elections.
• TruthWire Local news and commentary.
• Williamson County Republican Party is one of the most active parties in the state and captures the conservative heart of Tennessee.
• Mom's For Liberty Williamson County is dedicated to fighting for the American family by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.
• Tennessee Stands produces video media, podcasts, and live events, and provides social commentary on relevant issues in our state.
• M4LU is a new site developed by the national Mom's for Liberty but generated right here in Williamson County. The mission of M4LU is to to inform, equip, and empower parents with knowledge, understanding and practical tools.

Help educate citizens of Williamson County

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