Tennessee's voter registration and voter turnout have been among the lowest in the nation. This is not an accident. The state has a long tradition of voter suppression by obstacle and inconvenience.
For example, consider the issue of voter registration. Unlike over 20 other states that allow voters to register on election day, Tennessee requires that new voters register a full month in advance. This rule short-ciruits a crucial element of campaign momentum and assures that registration drives have plenty of time to become stale before the polls open.
Last year, after a surge in non-white voter registrations, Tennessee’s GOP legislature responded with a set of burdensome new regulations enforceable by unprecedented civil and criminal sanctions applicable to groups that register new voters. Penalties apply if voter registration groups pay workers based on quotas; if they fail to conduct state-mandated “training” of those workers; if they fail to ship completed forms to the Secretary of State by a deadline or within 10 days of registration drives; or if they submit too many registration forms with errors or omissions (e.g. missing a name, address, birthdate, declaration of eligibility, or signature). Punishments include up to a year in jail and fines that can reach $10,000 per county where such “violations” occur. The bill also outlawed out-of-state poll watchers. Fortunately, a constitutional challenge allowed a federal judge to temporarily block implementation of the law, but the matter remains on the docket and headed for trial.
The social distancing and stay-at-home imperatives of COVID-19 will have an obvious chilling effect on face-to-face registration drives as well as willingness to physically show up at polling places to vote. From a public health perspective, registration and voting by mail or internet are the obvious wise alternatives.
But, here Tennessee’s voting scheme continues to discourage new voters. The state requires that anyone who registers by mail must vote in person the first time after they register. So a person who uses mail-in registration to protect themselves and others from COVID-19 will not be able to continue such protection by using a mail-in ballot to actually vote.
Tennessee's rule creates a two-tier classification of voters: one group is comprised of citizens who can vote freely by mail absentee ballot, while the other is comprised of those newly registered by mail who will be required to expose themselves to potentially contagious circumstances on election day because of a compulsory in-person voting rule. This requirement favors established voters over new voters and thus likely operates to preserve the status quo.
This isn’t right. It’s hard to imagine any form of voter suppression more potent than requiring a person to risk their life in order to vote. As part of our national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, any rule that mandates in-person voting should be repealed or at least suspended until the public health threat is firmly under control.
Friday, Apr 3, 2020 · 3:24:46 PM +00:00 · NoAprilFool
Part of voter suppression solved. Instead of facing trial, Tennessee’s legislature and governor just passed a bill removing the offending provisions of the voter registration law. Story here. However, I think in-person voting requirement after mail-in registration remains in force.