Then-Rep. Jeremy Durham shortly before his expulsion.
Somehow, despite all the crazy bullshit former state Rep./all-around horrible person Jeremy Durham has done, he still has a small pocket of supporters. We are not joking about this — there are still people who think Durham should get his legislative seat back. And so these few, poor deluded souls have taken it upon themselves to encourage the voters of Williamson County to write in Jeremy Durham as a candidate for House District 65, instead of voting for the sane Democrat Holly McCall or the sane Republican Sam Whitson.
"The liberal media hand in hand with the liberal wing of the Tennessee Republican Party worked together to try and destroy the career of a true patriot, Jeremy Durham. Why? Because he did not go along to get along. He spoke up, disagreed and made the legislative leadership explain their actions to the voters of Tennessee. We say enough, we want Jeremy representing us and looking out after us. On election day or in early voting, in District 65 write in Jeremy Durham for State Representative," says the Facebook page promoting this ill-advised idea — a page, which, we should note, has only five people liking it.
But what this Facebook page does not note — nor do what the umpteen people who have sent me this link seem to realize — is you can write in Durham on the ballot, but your vote for him won't count. Durham is not an officially registered write-in candidate.
In Tennessee, it is not enough to simply write in a name. If one wants to run as a write-in candidate for office, one must notify the Secretary of State of that intent, by a filing deadline. That deadline for the November election was noon on Sept. 19, 2016. And only four names of eligible state House write-in candidates are on that list: John R. Huff, Sr., in District 12, Rhonda Lynnese Gallman in District 15, Andrew Newman in District 28, and Sibyl Reagan in District 45. No other name written in will count.
So fans of Jeremy Durham who live in District 65, feel free to write his name and cast your ballot in support of sexual harassment and campaign finance scandals. But you might as well write in Mickey Mouse or the Wizard of Oz, for all the good it will do you. There is no way Durham can possibly get elected on Nov. 8. And for that, we are all #blessed.
