Fairgrounds Petition Certified After 27,567 Bad Signatures Are Tossed

Last month, a broad coalition seeking a charter amendment to ban racing at The Fairgrounds Nashville delivered boxes containing more than 75,000 petition signatures to the Metro clerk. At its Oct. 16 meeting, the Davidson County Election Commission officially certified 47,679 of those signatures as the amendment moves toward a direct referendum in 2027. That's enough to clear the legal threshold — 10 percent of active registered Davidson County voters as of June, or 40,194 valid signatures — ending the DCEC’s herculean certification effort and continuing a legal and political saga between billionaire sports owners. 

Poll workers and employees worked daily in two shifts, logging more than 12,500 work hours at the DCEC, to validate boxes of signatures provided by petitioners. Administrator of elections John Richardson did not share the commission's exact reasons for tossing out 36 percent of the collected signatures. Petition opponents vetted hundreds of signatures themselves and found, in many cases, individuals who did not know that the petition included their names.

Fairgrounds Petition Delivered to Metro With Almost 75,000 Signatures

Coalition takes expensive and controversial anti-racing campaign to city clerk for certification

This verification effort brought Richardson to tears during Friday’s proceedings as he recounted weeks of slog. When a petitioner turns in signatures, the DCEC has 30 days to render an opinion, per the Metro Charter. The 70-person certification team finished its task just before midnight Thursday. 

“Extended operation hours illustrate the scale of the staffing commitment supporting the review,” Richardson told election commissioners Friday. “The mission of this team was to complete a timely, consistent, impartial and documented review of the submitted signatures.”

Impartiality became a theme for commissioners — particularly Kenneth Byrd, a Democrat who previously served on the Fair Commissioners Board and opted not to recuse himself from Friday's vote.

A who’s-who from both sides of the racetrack fight showed up during the public hearing to sway the board toward their desired outcome. Political consultants and volunteer activists have worked on both sides. The money and people supporting the petition to ban racing have ties to Nashville SC owner John Ingram, while the “Decline to Sign” group fighting to keep the track is funded in part by NASCAR operator Marcus Smith.

Sides have clashed throughout the summer as an army of signature-gatherers blanketed Nashville, at times wooing passersby with incomplete or misleading information about the petition. Petitioners also used legal recourse against one pro-racing consultant, alleging he harassed signature-gatherers. A judge threw out that case this week.

Music industry veteran Mike Kopp led the public hearing Friday with an appeal to direct democracy. 

“This exercise has been about giving Nashvillians the right to vote,” Kopp told commissioners. “We’re talking about tens of thousands of Nashvillians who want the right to vote to restore the speedway site to its original use as a green space.”

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Opponents’ attorney Michael Cottone alleged a pattern of fraudulent and forged signatures that called the entire operation into question. He also referenced a legal reading of the charter favored by petition opponents that raised the required signature threshold near 47,000. 

“You’ve heard the number 47,679 — we know that count is too high,” Cottone told the room. “We know there are many, many forgeries we do not believe have been investigated properly. The correct threshold is 47,000 signatures. We are right at the margin’s edge of what is permissible.” 

Councilmembers Sheri Weiner, Terry Vo, Jordan Huffman and Olivia Hill spoke Friday, as well as former Metro Councilmember Jamie Hollin and former Metro Director of Law Saul Solomon.

Commissioners trusted the extensive in-house vetting process and accepted the petition. Ongoing legal matters could muddy the next step of the campaign, which promises to keep fairgrounds drama under the Metro spotlight in 2027.