Independent Nashville candidate files complaint alleging Senate election fraud

An independent Tennessee Senate candidate alleges ballot manipulation skewed election results in the Senate District 21 race last fall in a complaint under a review by an ad hoc Senate committee.

Rueben Dockery, who lost to District 21 Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeff Yarbro, alleges voting machines were tampered with by a “bug” that led to issues with the voting machines, including ballot switching. Dockery on Monday offered limited anecdotal evidence to support his allegations, which the Senate ad hoc committee found did not meet the legal standard for review.

The committee gave Dockery another 30 days to bring additional evidence.

“I don’t see the allegations measuring up to the standard that we have,” said Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston. “It’s mostly the complainant’s assertions on his unsupported information.”

Dockery has called for an audit of paper ballots in the race. He first filed his complaint with Davidson County Chancery Court, before Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office argued the constitutional jurisdiction lies with the Senate.

Dockery alleged voting machine flipped his vote during early voting, and he also spoke to a voter with the same experience.

But Dockery did not identify or include an affidavit from that alleged voter in his documents provided to the ad hoc committee.

Reach Melissa Brown at mabrown@tennessean.com.