The thousands of Montgomery County Tennesseans informed last week they could lose their driver’s license have one less concern, the loss won’t affect their ability to vote in the general election.
Early last week more than 14,000 notices were sent to individuals with delinquent accounts, stating their license would be revoked if court costs and fines were not paid.
“There is a law in TN that you must have a federal or TN state photo ID in order to vote, the difference here is it doesn't matter if it is expired or revoked, as long as you have that physical ID in your hand that will still be sufficient to vote,” says Vickie Koelman, administrator for the Montgomery County Election Commission.
Typically the local Democratic and Republican parties offer rides to get people to the polls says Koelman, and that many of the polling stations are also located near bus stops. So she doesn’t anticipate transportation being an issue from the revoked licenses.
Montgomery County Circuit Court Clerk's Office Chief Deputy Patty Arms says some individuals received as many as 8 notices per person and that the 14,000 figure is likely to be much less. The notices were sent out after the county notified the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security that those individuals had failed to pay litigation taxes, court costs or fines assessed by Montgomery County General Sessions Court.
