The State Election Commission held its first meeting in Nashville Monday for the four-year term that began on May 1, 2015.  The members of the commission are:

• Donna Barrett of Murfreesboro, a member since May 2014
• Judy Blackburn of Morristown, a member since June 2009
• Greg Duckett of Memphis, a member since May 2007
• Mike McDonald of Portland, a newly elected member
• James H. Wallace, Jr. of Jackson, a member since May 1995
• Tom Wheeler of Clinton, a member since February 1992
• Kent D. Younce of La Follette, a member since June 2009

Members of the State Election Commission are elected by the General Assembly.  The commission is responsible for appointing local election commissioners in all of Tennessee’s 95 counties, then monitoring the activities and performance of those individual county election commissions.  The commission also reviews and certifies voting systems prior to their use in Tennessee.

Former State Representative Mike McDonald is the only newly elected member of the commission.  He is a career educator and farmer and served in the state House of Representatives from 1994 until 2012.

The State Election Commission works very closely with the state coordinator of elections to ensure elections are conducted in a uniform fashion. The commission is administratively attached to the Department of State.