Weekly Whelen All-American Series racing at the Fairgrounds track in 2007, when it ran as Music City Motorplex. Photo: Ray Ashley via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Davidson County election workers reviewed 75,246 signatures on the petition to end auto racing at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway and rejected 27,567 of them, a little more than one in three. The petition was certified anyway.
The Davidson County Election Commission voted 4-0, with one abstention, on Oct. 16 to accept 47,679 valid signatures, according to the count Administrator of Elections John Richardson presented to the board, Fox 17 reported. The commission’s bar was 40,194 signatures, which it calculates as 10 percent of the county’s active registered voters as of June, the Nashville Scene reported.
The proposed Metro Charter amendment strikes “Auto Racing” from the list of activities the Fair Board must conduct, writes “Affordable housing and/or Workforce housing” in its place and directs the board to stop racing on the property. The state fair, expo center events and flea market stay, according to the coalition’s petition site, which is paid for by Citizens Against Racetrack Expansion. Neither the site nor the coalition has said who would pay for the housing or the green space it promises.
The 47,000 argument
Decline to Sign, the group opposing the petition, says the charter sets a higher bar. Its attorney, Michael Cottone, told commissioners, “The correct threshold is 47,000 signatures.” Under the commission’s reading, the petition cleared by 7,485. Under Cottone’s, the margin is about 679.
That gap is why a second number matters. Coalition co-founder John Spragens told the commission the group received about 2,000 emails asking to withdraw signatures, verified them and removed people who confirmed by the Wednesday before the petition was filed in September, NewsChannel 5 reported. Some, he said, could not be verified. Against 40,194, those 2,000 names are a rounding error. Against 47,000, they are nearly three times the margin.
A court challenge over how those withdrawal requests were handled is pending, and a show cause hearing on whether withdrawn signatures can be counted is set for Oct. 27. Decline to Sign asked the commission to wait for that ruling. Commission counsel said the charter gave the board 30 days from submission, Oct. 16 was the deadline and no court order blocked a vote. Disputes over the decision go to Davidson County Chancery Court, counsel said.
What the count leaves out
Richardson did not say why individual signatures were thrown out, the Scene reported. His 70-person team worked two shifts and logged more than 12,500 hours, finishing just before midnight the night before the vote. That works out to about six signatures reviewed per staff hour.
Opponents read the 36 percent rejection rate as evidence of fraud. A letter from the law firm Holland & Knight, filed for Decline to Sign, cited sworn affidavits from residents who said they never signed, and named one woman whose name appeared on the petition although she has not lived in Tennessee since 2017. A Nashville resident told commissioners a signature under her son’s name was on the petition after both of them had declined to sign. Spragens said the over-collection reflected hard-to-read signatures, not forgery.
Commissioners said their job was to certify the count, not to decide whether fraud occurred, Axios Nashville reported. None of the allegations were ruled on at the meeting.
One certifying vote came from Commissioner Kenny Byrd, who filed an earlier charter amendment in 2024 to remove racing as a required use and once served on the Fair Board. Shane Smiley asked him to recuse, NewsChannel 5 reported. Byrd declined, said he was never paid for the 2024 work and voted yes.
Who is paying
The petition drive has money and people tied to Nashville SC owner John Ingram, whose Geodis Park stadium sits on the same property, according to the Scene. Decline to Sign is funded in part by Marcus Smith, whose Speedway Motorsports holds the 30-year lease on a $116 million track renovation Metro is financing with revenue bonds.
This is the coalition’s third version of the amendment. An earlier one was certified by the Charter Revision Commission in January, then reversed in April by Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal, who ruled its title did not clearly state its subject (Chaffin v. Metro Nashville, No. 26-0202-I).
The ballot
If the measure survives the court fight, voters could see it in August 2027, Axios reported. They have answered a version of this question before. In August 2011, more than 70 percent voted for the charter language that protects racing at the fairgrounds. The track has not hosted a NASCAR Cup race since 1984, and the renovation is meant to change that.
The next document is whatever the court issues after the Oct. 27 hearing on withdrawn signatures. It will decide whether a margin that may be fewer than 700 names holds up.
If you vote in Davidson County: is 15 years long enough that the track deserves another ballot, or should 2011’s 70 percent have settled it?
Sources: Davidson County Election Commission certification vote, Oct. 16, 2026; Chaffin v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Davidson County Chancery Court No. 26-0202-I, order of April 24, 2026; Restore Our Fairgrounds petition site; local reporting by the Nashville Scene, NewsChannel 5, Fox 17 and Axios Nashville.
Lead image: Ray Ashley via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
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