Freak chain of events leads to a Tennessee election with zero candidates

A Tennessee state legislative district will have no candidates on the ballot in November, ensuring whoever wins will have to carry out a write-in campaign — and it's unclear who that might be.

G.A. Hardaway, the Democratic lawmaker who had previously represented the district, died in April. But even if he had lived, it was eventually determined that he didn't submit enough ballot signatures to qualify for the August primary, coming up just one short of the required 25.

According to The Commercial Appeal, the local paper in Memphis, the Shelby County Commission appointed Hardaway's son, T.J. Hardaway, to serve in the seat. The younger Hardaway was planning to launch a write-in campaign, but suspended those efforts earlier this month.

Ballot access snafus have caused surprising issues around the country in multiple states.

In April, New Mexico GOP state Rep. Rebecca Dow was booted from the ballot after a judge determined the way she submitted her nominating petitions did not adequately give voters a chance to review or withdraw their names, which would have potentially left that district with no candidate, although the state Supreme Court ultimately reversed this decision and let her back on the ballot.

Then in June, Democrats de facto won a Republican-held seat in Florida after Rep. Paula Stark failed to file her campaign finance disclosures on time, disqualifying her from the ballot and leaving only Democrats cleared to run.