Tennessee House Restricts Voter Registration

On April 15th, 2019, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed bill HB-1079. The bill, among other things, places restrictions on voter registration drives in Tennessee. While this may seem benign on its face, there are several red flags that should be addressed. First and foremost, the timing of this bill is quite suspicious.

Tennessee is ranked 45th in the country in voter turnout. Six months ago, the state had an explosion in voter registration. This was due in part to the TN Black Voter Project, who registered 90,000 new black voters in the state. Instead of welcoming and congratulating the change however, Tennessee legislators decided to impose further restrictions on the operations of voter drives such as the TN Black Voter Project.

Legal Penalties?

These restrictions are part of amendment 006813. The amendment prescribed legal action against organizations and individuals involved in voter registrations drives who failed to adhere to these new restrictions. These restrictions include a cap on the number of deficient voter registrations submitted by an individual or organization. It maxes out at 100. In other words, any voter drive that has a sufficient amount of paperwork that has been incorrectly filled out could now face legal penalties.

The other and less strenuous of these restrictions include a disclaimer on any and all websites representing a voter drive. The disclaimer states that the website is not done in conjunction with or approved by the secretary of state. Despite all of the best efforts of protesters at the Tennessee HOR, the bill passed. It is currently awaiting a vote in the TN Senate.

One silver lining, however, is amendment 007448, which exempts volunteers and other unpaid workers from receiving legal action. One question this sparks, however, is why would the HOR desire to discourage voter registration drives in a state with already low voter turnout? The people of Tennessee will have to wait and see for themselves how seriously their senators take the voting process.