The order of the titles of the offices to be filled or for which nominees are to be chosen shall be substantially as follows:
- Presidential and vice presidential electors
- Governor
- United States senate
- United States house of representatives
- Tennessee senate
- Tennessee house of representatives
- Supreme court judge
- Court of appeals judge
- Court of criminal appeals judge
- Circuit court judge
- Chancellor
- Criminal court judge
- District attorney general
- Public defender
- County mayors, including popularly elected mayors of metropolitan county governments
- County legislative offices, including members of the county legislative bodies
- Assessor of property
- County trustee
- General sessions judge
- Juvenile court judge
- Sheriff
- Clerks of courts
- County clerk
- Register
- Elective county department offices, including road superintendents or commissioners, school boards and purchasing agents
- Municipal executive offices
- Municipal legislative offices
- Municipal judicial offices
- Offices which do not fall into any classification listed
If several offices to be filled are within a single classification, they shall be arranged in alphabetical order.
If any judicial offices listed above are to be placed on the ballot as a yes/no retention question, the question shall be placed at the end of the ballot.
On general election ballots, the name of each statewide political party having nominees on the ballot shall be listed at the top of the columns, with the listing of the candidates’ names underneath. In such column for independent candidates, for the November 2000 general election, if the presidential candidate of a party which is not a statewide party received more than five thousand (5,000) votes in Tennessee in the November 1996 presidential election, then in addition to listing the name of a candidate who was nominated by such candidate’s political party, the candidate may elect to have the candidate’s party name included in the space allocated on the ballot for the candidate together with the name of such candidate. After the November 2000 general election, in order for these provisions to apply, the presidential candidate of a party which is not a statewide party must receive at least five percent (5%) of the votes cast in Tennessee in the last presidential election preceding the election in which the candidate seeks to have such candidate’s party name included in such space on the ballot. The name of the political party may not be one which resembles that of any statewide political party. If the ballot arrangement established in this section will not fit on a voting machine ballot, the county election commission may arrange the ballot so that the voting machine will accommodate the entire ballot.
On nonpartisan general election ballots and on the political party’s primary ballot, the names of all candidates for the same office shall be arranged alphabetically according to the initials of their surnames, beginning with the first initial.
No number may be prefixed before or affixed after the names of candidates for any office so as to designate by number the order in which candidates’ names are on the ballot for any office. The limitation set out in this subsection does not prohibit the printing of numerals on ballots used with the Microvote electronic voting system.