The Knoxville News Sentinel had this report yesterday on the current status of the recent primary, certification, and the pending lawsuits.

As it stands, the Knox County Election Commission will meet to certify the election tomorrow (Friday). They will then need court rulings (and possibly results of party caucuses/conventions) regarding who's name can appear on the ballot by June 5th in order to get absentee ballots in the mail by June 19th for the August 3rd general election. Chances of all that happening appear to somewhere between slim and none, but you never know.

What's going to happen is that either a) courts will rule term limits don't apply to county commissioners or anybody else and the election will go on with the ballot as it stands (not likely), or b) courts will rule that term limits apply to the 12 commissioners, and possibly everybody else in Knox County government, and all hell will break loose and none of this will be settled until long after August 3rd (more likely).

What it will eventually boil down to is that term limits will finally be enforced, for now, and the twelve commissioners will be declared ineligible and disqualified, but some of the eligible, qualified candidates who got the most votes in the primary will not be on the ballot. Instead, replacement candidates will be hand picked by the local party apparatchik.

This was apparently the preferred outcome by the powers that be, so there you go. But really, who cares? Apparently not 86% of Knox County voters, who couldn't be bothered to turn out for the primary, or voters who did show up but voted for term-limited candidates after voting overwhelmingly for term limits twelve years ago. Go figure. Anyway, don't you worry your pretty little head about it. The grown-ups have everything under control. Say, how 'bout them Vols?

For more analysis, see Betty Bean's column in today's Halls Shopper (and scroll on down for her commentary re. politics in the KFD - who knew?). Also while you're over there, see Sandra Clark invoke of the Ghost of Cas Walker.