Tennessee is just a week away from its state and federal primary elections on Aug. 1, with the presidential election following in November. But for some Tennesseans, the question is not who to vote for, but whether they can vote at all.
Over the last few years, the Tennessee legislature and state courts have created stringent new rules for people with felony records who want regain their voting rights, nonprofits that run voter registration drives, and people who want to vote in a party primary they’re not already a part of. Supporters of these rules say they’re necessary for election integrity, while opponents have brought lawsuits in federal court.
Here are the latest updates on voting rights issues in Tennessee:
Felony records
For Tennesseans with felony convictions, the process for restoring voting rights was already one of the toughest in the country. Would-be voters had two options for regaining their rights: approval from a judge after a lengthy court proceeding, or proof that they had paid all legal debts and, if applicable, child support. Most people with felony records preferred the latter option — getting a judge’s approval was not only expensive and time-consuming, it was also discretionary, meaning the judge could say no.
Dawn Harrington is executive director of Free Hearts, a nonprofit that advocates for formerly incarcerated Tennesseans. While attempting to restore her voting rights she took multiple trips to New York, where her conviction occurred, and spent days being bounced between government offices. Still, the New York court system was unwilling to sign her forms from Tennessee. Ultimately, a reporter covering her situation was able to help her find a solution. Harrington says the process shouldn’t take that kind of luck.
“It’s sad because there are so many other people in my shoes,” she told WPLN’s daily show This is Nashville.
In 2023, the Tennessee Elections Commission interpreted a state supreme court ruling to make the process even more stringent. People with felony records would need both a judge’s approval and proof that all debts are paid. This lengthened the process and gave judges discretion to deny potential voters, even those who submitted all the right documentation.
Last fall, Free Hearts joined forces with the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center to sue the state in federal court. The plaintiffs argued that making voting rights discretionary was unconstitutional.
Read more: Formerly incarcerated people want their voting rights back. That’s why they’re suing Tennessee.
In April, a federal judge agreed, ruling that judges must restore people’s voting rights if they complete the proper steps.
However, attempts to make those steps less demanding have run aground. In its interpretation of the court’s ruling, the state elections commission also required people with felony records to restore all their other citizenship rights before they would be allowed to vote. Most notably, this meant restoring the right to own a gun. An attempt to decouple gun rights from voting rights stalled out in the state legislature this spring.
D.C.-based advocacy group The Sentencing Project says Tennessee has the highest rate of disenfranchisement for Black and Latino adults.
Voter registration drives
Tennessee is joining a number of other Republican-led states in tightening regulations on nonprofits that focus on voter registration. A new law signed in May by Gov. Bill Lee requires these organizations to give voters receipts after filling out forms on their behalf. It also imposes $5,000 fines on organizations if they employ people with certain felony convictions.
Republican State Rep. Tim Rudd sponsored the law. He told NPR it has “everything to do with protecting Tennesseans from voter registration fraud and elder abuse via reasonable limited guidelines and restrictions.”
Democratic Rep. Charlane Oliver disagrees. She believes the measure is a reaction to a successful 2018 campaign by the Tennessee Black Voter Project to register over 90,000 new voters. “There is always a backlash to our efforts to claim progress, and to have any sort of semblance of equality,” she told NPR.
Scrutiny for naturalized citizens
In June, the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office sent letters to over 14,000 immigrants who have become U.S. citizens. The letters asked recipients to send in proof of their citizenship rights, and noted that “illegal voting is a felony.” Also included was a form and a return envelope for people who wanted to cancel their voter registrations.
Some people who received letters expressed outrage at what they saw as voter intimidation. Turgut Ovunc, who moved to Tennessee from Turkey and has been a U.S. citizen for 12 years, told WPLN, “The intention of this letter is to clearly either intimidate immigrants, or naturalized immigrants, or to outright trick them in case they do not speak English that well.”
The Tennessee ACLU also condemned the letter and threatened a court challenge. Days later, the Secretary of State’s office issued a clarification: recipients were not legally required to respond to the letter, and would not be purged from the voter rolls if they ignored it.
Still, the Associated Press reports that, of the over 14,000 immigrants who received the letter, around 3,200 responded with proof of citizenship, and over 300 requested to cancel their voter registration.
“Bona fide” party membership
Tennessee has open primary elections, meaning voters do not need to officially register as a Democrat or a Republican to help choose a party’s nominee. However, a state law requiring primary voters to be “bona fide” party members has caused confusion and political clashes for years.
Debate around this ambiguous language bubbled to the surface when a new related law passed this year. It requires polling places to post signs reminding primary voters of the “bona fide” party membership requirement.
The Knox County Elections Administrator told the Knoxville News Sentinel that “bona fide” party membership is difficult to enforce. Under the current statute, three poll workers all have to agree to report a voter before the state is allowed to open an investigation.
Still, the League of Women Voters has partnered with Victor Ashe, the Republican former mayor of Knoxville, to sue the state over the new signage law. “This new law, I find it rather shocking because it allows someone other than me to decide if I’m a bona fide member of the Republican Party,” Ashe told the Knoxville News Sentinel.
The suit was dismissed in March because the plaintiffs were unable to prove that the law discouraged potential primary voters from casting their ballots. This summer, the plaintiffs have brought it back, joined this time by voters who say the law harmed them.
Earlier this month, the Williamson County Republican Party also referenced the “bona fide” party membership law in communications with voters. In a strongly-worded postcard, the party told voters that, if they cast a ballot in the Republican primary, they have “declared their allegiance to the Republican party.” It then asks for donations to “keep Williamson County red!”
Parties cannot force primary voters to choose their candidates in general elections, or to fundraise for them.
