---
type: "Bill"
title: "Election Laws - As enacted, reorders the presidential primary ballots to allow for candidates for state, county, and municipal offices to immediately follow the names of the presidential candidates; increases the number of vertical columns for each respective party’s primary election on the ballot from two to three. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 13 and Title 2, Chapter 5."
description: "Election Laws - As enacted, reorders the presidential primary ballots to allow for candidates for state, county, and municipal offices to immediately follow the names of the presidential candidates; increases the number of vertical columns for each respective party’s primary election on the ballot from two to three. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 13 and Title 2, Chapter 5."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tn"
legislature: "Tennessee General Assembly"
session: "110"
identifier: "SB 47"
citation: "Tennessee SB 47 (110)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Election Laws"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Massey", "Zachary"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 32
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2017-01-12"
last_action: "2017-04-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a575587a-1de5-43da-8d59-e8f1b61a07eb"
source_url: "http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0047&GA=110"
source_hash: "a08840b771be549d3661821f9437b3afe9f363b703066b224dac8f307704c5e2"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-tn"]
---

# Tennessee SB 47 (110) — Election Laws - As enacted, reorders the presidential primary ballots to allow for candidates for state, county, and municipal offices to immediately follow the names of the presidential candidates; increases the number of vertical columns for each respective party’s primary election on the ballot from two to three. - Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 13 and Title 2, Chapter 5.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Current Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/110/Bill/SB0047.pdf)

## Votes

- SENATE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE: Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0 1/31/2017 Passed — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: THIRD CONSIDERATION AMENDED 2/6/2017 Passed — **32–0** (pass) · upper
- FLOOR VOTE: PASSAGE ON THIRD CONSIDERATION 2/27/2017 Passed — **95–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Massey — primary (person)
- Zachary — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-12** Filed for introduction `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-01-17** Filed for intro. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2017-01-25** Placed on Senate State and Local Government Committee calendar for 1/31/2017
- **2017-01-30** Introduced, Passed on First Consideration `introduction`
- **2017-01-30** Intro., P1C. `introduction`
- **2017-01-31** Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0
- **2017-02-01** Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate State and Local Government Committee
- **2017-02-01** Placed on s/c cal Local Government Subcommittee for 2/7/2017
- **2017-02-01** Assigned to s/c Local Government Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-01** P2C, ref. to Local Government Committee `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-02** Placed on Senate Regular Calendar calendar for 2/6/2017
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed; ready for transmission to House
- **2017-02-06** Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 32, Nays 0 `passage`
- **2017-02-06** Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0001)
- **2017-02-07** Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Local Government Committee `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-08** Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.
- **2017-02-08** Placed on cal. Local Government Committee for 2/14/2017
- **2017-02-14** Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-02-22** Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 2/23/2017
- **2017-02-23** H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 2/27/2017
- **2017-02-27** Passed H., Ayes 95, Nays 0, PNV 0 `passage`
- **2017-02-27** Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0002) `amendment-withdrawal`
- **2017-02-27** Subst. for comp. HB.
- **2017-02-27** Comp. SB subst.
- **2017-02-28** Enrolled and ready for signatures
- **2017-03-02** Signed by Senate Speaker
- **2017-03-06** Signed by H. Speaker
- **2017-03-07** Transmitted to Governor for action.
- **2017-03-15** Signed by Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-04-04** Pub. Ch. 1
- **2017-04-04** Effective date(s) 07/01/2017
- **2017-04-04** Comp. became Pub. Ch. 1

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a575587a-1de5-43da-8d59-e8f1b61a07eb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Tennessee legislature records).