Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway

Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway

 Photo: Jude Ferrara

Last month, a broad coalition seeking a charter amendment to ban racing at The Fairgrounds Nashville delivered boxes containing more than 75,000 petition signatures to the Metro clerk.

At its Oct. 16 meeting, the Davidson County Election Commission officially certified 47,679 of those signatures as the amendment moves toward a direct referendum in 2027. That's enough to clear the legal threshold — 10 percent of active registered Davidson County voters as of June (the equivalent of 40,194 valid signatures) — thus ending the DCEC’s herculean certification effort and continuing a legal and political saga between billionaire sports owners. 

Discussing the verification effort brought Richardson to tears during Friday’s proceedings as he recounted weeks of slog. When a petitioner turns in signatures, the DCEC has 30 days to render an opinion, per the Metro Charter. The 70-person certification team finished its task just before midnight Thursday. 

Michael Cottone, an attorney for the pro-racetrack advocates, alleged a pattern of fraudulent and forged signatures that called the entire petition effort into question. He also referenced a legal reading of the charter favored by petition opponents that raised the required signature threshold near 47,000.