Williamson County Holds Election; No One Shows Up

THOMPSON'S STATION, TN — Turnout in Thursday's referendum in Williamson County was 100 percent.

"It's unheard of. A record-breaking, history-making event," the county's Administrator of Elections Chad Gray said.

Generally, of course, high turnout means a long wait for results, but Gray fully expected the results of the election will be known just minutes after the closing of the polls — or rather, the poll.

That's because this referendum had just two voters. And they voted early, back on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, state law requires the county to open a polling place, fully staff it, and keep it open for at least 11 hours. So at Independence High School Wednesday, five poll workers sat until 7 p.m. next to a voting machine that no one used. Only one concession was made to the dearth of voters.

"By law we can wait until 8 a.m. to open the polls," Gray said. "We generally open at 7."

The issue on the ballot was the annexation by Thompson's Station of the 700-acre Eagle's Rest Farm owned by Gary and Portia Baker, the aforementioned voters. The property is part of Beacon Development's $150 million Two Farms project, which is set to include 800 homes and an 18-hole golf course, the location of which was blessed by Tiger Woods.

The problem is that Eagle's Rest is outside of Thompson's Station's urban growth boundary, basically the outer limits of a municipality's annexation authority set during negotiations between Williamson County and its municipalities in the 1990s.

Thompson's Station nevertheless moved to annex Eagle's Rest, but the county challenged that action in November 2015, saying that state law required a referendum of either the entire town or the affected property owners to annex outside the UGB. So in October, Thompson's Station called for a referendum with a grand total of two voters.

"It's the lowest I've ever heard," said Gray, who has been in the election administration game since 2000. "But, we have to treat this like any other election, even though there's only one polling place and one contest. We have required public notices that have to be printed in newspapers of general circulation. We have to a minimum of two election commission meetings, to set the date and certify the election, and five poll workers."

And, because the referendum was contested, so to speak, Williamson County had to provide early voting opportunities beginning 20 days from Election Day, an opportunity the Bakers took advantage of.

All told, the whole operation will cost $4,000, which will be paid by Thompson's Station.

And the result? Well, it was known long beforehand.

“The land is going to be sold to somebody, one way or the other, and the Two Farms developers are going to create a project that will be preferable to a mass tract home builder,” Gary Baker said at a July County Commission meeting, according to the Franklin Home Page.

"We are pretty confident that Gary and Portia are going to vote in favor of it, and once it is certified the developers can begin the planning process,” Thompson’s Station Town Administrator Joe Cosentini told the newspaper.

Indeed, the referendum passed. Unanimously.

The Williamson County Election Commission is scheduled to certify the results Friday morning in what Gray expects to be "a very brief" meeting.

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