Moore County’s first ever Republican Primary Election has caused confusion over filing deadlines. Deadlines for some offices were accelerated, whether those candidates would be running in the primary or not.

In addition to county filings, the office of Sheriff requires certification by the Tennessee Peace Officers Training and Standards (POST) Commission. Again, due to the primary, the deadline to file with POST was accelerated as well. However, the Election Commission gave an incorrect filing deadline date for POST. As a result, incumbent Sheriff Tyler Hatfield missed the POST deadline, and POST refused to certify him to run in the August County General Election.

Sheriff Hatfield then filed a lawsuit in Moore County Chancery Court for relief. Judge Cox, having experienced a near exact case, ordered POST to certify Hatfield, and ordered the Election Commission to include him on the August County General Election ballot.

The parties had until the March 4 hearing to answer, though none did. The court dismissed the POST Commission from the case, finding that POST has no authority regarding putting Hatfi eld on the local county August ballot. The court then ordered the Election Commission to place him on the ballot, which will be done.

The Republican Primary Election will be held May 5, and the August County General Election will be held August 6. This has been the only misstep in initiating Moore County’s first ever primary election, and was quickly rectified. From here the elections themselves will tell the rest of the story.