Judge dismisses TN students' voting rights case

A federal judge in Nashville has upheld Tennessee's voter ID law prohibiting the use of student identification cards at the polls.

U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger on Monday granted the state's request to dismiss the case and upheld the law as constitutional. The students who brought the case in March wanted to use their school identification cards to vote and said the state denying them the ability to do that was age discrimination.

Her ruling comes after four years of debate over Tennessee's law but does not necessarily end discussion because the ruling could be appealed.

"This ruling reinforces the efforts of House Republicans to safeguard the integrity of the ballot box and uphold public confidence in our elections," said Cade Cothren, House Republican Caucus spokesman. "Photo IDs are a commonplace requirement for accessing a variety of everyday items, ranging from alcohol and tobacco to hotel rooms and rental cars. Students who only have a school ID are eligible for a free state-issued identification card and, under this ruling, will continue to experience absolutely no barriers in exercising their right to vote."

Trauger's ruling is largely based on a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court case called Crawford vs. Marion County Election Board. That case upheld Indiana's law requiring voters to show photo identification as a constitutional way to prevent voter fraud. It also said that requiring people to get state identification cards did not create enough burden for the court to overturn the law.

"Under the Tennessee Voter ID Law, everyone is required to obtain some form of acceptable photo identification in order to vote," Trauger wrote in the memo. "Students, like everyone else, can select among a state-issued driver license, a United States passport, or the free, state-issued non-driver identification card.

"Admittedly, allowing students to use these cards (student IDs) would make it easier for them to vote, but it does not automatically follow that not allowing them to use their student identification cards imposes a severe burden or otherwise abridges their right to vote."

The case was filed by the Fair Elections Legal Network and the Nashville firm of Barrett Johnston Martin & Garrison on behalf of a group of students from the Nashville Student Organizing Committee and seven students from Tennessee State University, Belmont University and Fisk University. Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins were named as defendants. A spokesman for Hargett declined to comment on the ruling.

“If this ruling stands, it is further proof that voting rights law — weakened over the years by Supreme Court decisions and Congressional inaction — fails to protect against even this obvious discriminatory behavior by Tennessee state legislators,” said Jon Sherman, counsel at the Fair Elections Legal Network, a voting rights advocacy organization.

The lawsuit capped years of back-and-forth over Tennessee's law, which was approved by the General Assembly in 2011. There have been protests and multiple failed attempts in the legislature to allow use of student identification in recent years.

The debate is not only in the Volunteer State: Thirty-two states have laws that require voters to show identification at the polls, and three states have had their laws struck down in recent years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Tennessee is one of eight states that has strict laws requiring photo IDs, according to NCSL. Eleven states allow the use of some form of student identification to vote, according to NCSL.

There has been no decision whether to appeal Trauger's ruling, a statement from the Fair Elections Legal Network says.

Reach Stacey Barchenger at 615-726-8968 and on Twitter @sbarchenger.