Close to half a million Tennesseans are set to lose their voting rights in the upcoming presidential election, as new regulations make regaining these rights more challenging. Now, certain felons will face greater difficulties in having their voting rights reinstated.
Tougher Voting Laws for Felons
In Tennessee, those convicted of specific felonies (regardless of the state where the trial occurred) could formerly vote only if they received a pardon or had their rights restored. For those convicted of particularly grave offenses like first-degree murder, the possibility of regaining voting rights hinges on the conviction year, as per the Tennessee Secretary of State.
Who’s Most Affected?
The Sentencing Project, a criminal justice advocacy group, estimated in 2022 that about 9 percent of the voting-age population, roughly 471,000 people, are disenfranchised due to felony convictions. This change is expected to disproportionately impact Black and Latin communities.
Facing Disenfranchisement
The Sentencing Project stated, “Tennessee denies voting rights to 21 percent of Black voting age citizens and 8 percent of Latinx voting age citizens due to system involvement. The rate of disenfranchisement for Black Tennesseans is nearly four times the national average for Black Americans.”
Firearms and Voting Rights
In Tennessee, the constitution ties the right to own firearms to citizenship. However, felons, even after completing their sentences, are banned from buying, possessing, or carrying guns in Tennessee and other states.
Reshaping Voting Landscape
A Tennessee Supreme Court ruling in 2023 was interpreted by state election officials as requiring that felons wishing to have their voting rights restored must either receive a full reinstatement of their citizenship rights from a judge or secure a pardon.
Confirming Eligibility
Previously, a Tennessee felon seeking to regain voting rights needed to clear all outstanding debts and get a ‘certificate of restoration’ from government officials to confirm voting eligibility.
New Standards
Under the new rule, a felon must first get a pardon from the governor or a court must reinstate their complete citizenship rights, including firearm possession. Only after this can they move forward with the certificate of restoration process to restore their voting rights.
Watchdog’s Alarm
The Campaign Legal Center, a government watchdog organization, believes this to be a first-of-its-kind change in the U.S. Voting rights advocates have criticized the interpretation as misguided.
Raising Red Flags
Blair Bowie, the head of Restore Your Vote at the Campaign Legal Center, expressed to The Associated Press her concerns, “Despite the Tennessee legislature’s clear intent to create meaningful pathways for voting rights restoration, the Elections Division, with help from the Attorney General’s office, continues to twist the law into tortured knots to prevent the 475,000 Tennesseans, including over 20 percent of voting age Black Tennesseans, with past felony convictions from voting,”
A Troubling Slowdown
This policy shift has led to a near standstill in restoring voting rights for applicants, with the Associated Press reporting that 60 applications have been denied and only one approved. Prior data from the Secretary of State’s office shows that around 200 people had been approved before this change, while 120 had been denied.
Restoring Voting Rights
Mark Goins, Tennessee’s Coordinator of Elections, recently stated to The Tennessean that full citizenship rights, including the right to vote, must be restored for those who have committed a felony in the state.
Voting Eligibility in TN
Goins explained, “When someone commits a felony in the state of Tennessee, that person forfeits the right to vote in future Tennessee elections. The legislature provided a path for those who committed a felony and seek to regain the right to vote.”
Full Citizenship Restoration
Goins emphasized that under the Tennessee Constitution, bearing arms is a citizenship right, and thus, felons must either receive a pardon or have all citizenship rights restored to regain their voting right
A Judicial Influence
This policy change occurred after testimony in a lawsuit by an individual seeking to regain voting rights, which led the elections board to implement a more comprehensive policy shift.
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