Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 5-1-111 (2026)
County legislative bodies - Reapportionment
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a)
- (1) Except as provided in subdivision (a)(2), prior to January 1, 1982, and at least every ten (10) years thereafter, county legislative bodies of the different counties shall meet and, a majority of the members being present and concurring, shall change the boundaries of districts, or redistrict a county entirely if necessary, to apportion the county legislative body so that the members represent substantially equal populations.
- (2) The January 1, 2022, deadline may be extended in the discretion of the comptroller of the treasury based on the United States census bureau delay in releasing the results of the 2020 federal census.
- (b) The county legislative body may increase or decrease the number of districts when the reapportionments are made.
- (c) A county legislative body may reapportion at any time if the county legislative body deems such action necessary to maintain substantially equal representation based on population.
- (d) The county legislative body must use the latest federal census data whenever a reapportionment is made.
- (e) Districts shall be reasonably compact and contiguous and shall not overlap.
- (f)
- (1) Except as provided in subdivision (f)(2), in the establishment of boundaries for districts, no precinct shall be split.
- (2) Upon written certification by the coordinator of elections, a county election commission may establish a precinct that encompasses two (2) or more districts in any county that has twenty (20) or more county legislative body districts. In making this determination the coordinator of elections shall consider, among other things, the type of voting equipment used in the county, as well as the racial makeup of the districts and the cost savings to the county.
- (g) Upon application of any citizen of the county affected, the chancery court of such county shall have original jurisdiction to review the county legislative body's apportionment, and shall have jurisdiction to make such orders and decrees amending the apportionment to comply with this section, or if the county legislative body fails to make apportionment, shall make a decree ordering an apportionment.
- (h) When a reapportionment is made, residents of a correctional institution who cannot by law register in the county as voters may be excluded from any consideration of representation.
Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 262, s 1, eff. 4/28/2021.
Amended by 2016 Tenn. Acts, ch. 954, s 1, eff. 4/27/2016.
Acts 1968, ch. 599, §§ 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 12; 1972, ch. 615, § 1; 1978, ch. 934, § 4; T.C.A., § 5-111; Acts 2002, ch. 653, § 1.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2
cases, 2014–2015 · leading case: Lisa Peterson v. James Dean, 777 F.3d 334 (6th Cir. 2015).
Lisa Peterson v. James Dean, 777 F.3d 334 (6th Cir. 2015). “VII, § 1; Tenn. Code Ann. § 5-1-111 (county legislative bodies shall reapportion their districts every ten years).”
Kenneth T. Whalum, Jr. v. Shelby Cnty. Election Comm'n (Tenn. Ct. App. 2014). “See Tenn. Code Ann. § 5-1-111 (a) (“Prior to January 1, 1982, and at least every ten (10) years thereafter, county legislative bodies of the different counties shall meet and, a majority of the members being present and concurring, shall change the boundaries of districts or…”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 5-1-111(a) — 1 case
Kenneth T. Whalum, Jr. v. Shelby Cnty. Election Comm'n (Tenn. Ct. App. 2014). “See Tenn. Code Ann. § 5-1-111 (a) (“Prior to January 1, 1982, and at least every ten (10) years thereafter, county legislative bodies of the different counties shall meet and, a majority of the members being present and concurring, shall change the boundaries of districts or…”
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