Featured Photo from Megan Cole
Story by Hannah Ferreira
The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office recently issued a change that makes it more difficult for former felons to get their voting rights restored by requiring them to have their gun rights reinstated before being able to cast a ballot.
The new update resulted from a June Tennessee Supreme Court ruling. The ruling was interpreted to apply to felons convicted in courts of both other states and federal courts who are trying to register to vote in Tennessee.
Additionally, it resulted in election officials updating the process by which they can regain suffrage.
Mark Goins, the Coordinator of Elections for the State of Tennessee, sent a memo to all county election commissions to inform them that a revised Certificate of Restoration of Voting Rights would now be used with a two-step process required for those seeking to use it.
According to a FAQ document published by the office, the first step to getting voting rights back is receiving a pardon or having “full rights of citizenship restored.” The second step is not owing any restitution or court costs and being up-to-date on child support payments.
Under the state constitution, the right to bear arms is a right of citizenship, therefore something that must be restored before obtaining voting rights again. This fact was reaffirmed by Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins to the Associated Press before he issued the consequential memo.
Several state Democrats and civil rights advocates have already raised concerns about closely tying gun rights and voting rights. Some are equating the new restriction to Jim Crow-era laws that groundlessly tried to prevent African-Americans from voting.
There is already a substantial portion of Tennessee’s voting-age residents unable to cast a ballot because of a felony conviction. The Sentencing Project revealed that 21% of Tennessee’s Black voting-age residents are denied the right to vote, compared to about 9% overall.
However, a GOP supermajority supported the update. The new rules are not likely to go anywhere. Comments like “don’t commit a felony to begin with” from House Leader William Lamberth are a general reflection of the attitude of the deep red state legislature.
Tying gun rights to voting rights is not a concern for the conservative legislative body, especially since those convicted of most violent crimes like murder and rape are never allowed to vote again.
The Campaign Legal Center is already suing the state of Tennessee. Allegedly, the revised restoration process is purposefully vague, which could lead to more complicated and expensive paperwork for those attempting to vote again.
Any felony in the state of Tennessee disqualifies someone from being able to vote. Article 4 of the Tennessee State Constitution gives the legislature the right to pass laws restricting the voting rights of “persons who may be convicted of infamous crimes.”
However, ex-felons with most non-violent convictions can eventually restore their voting rights. In Tennessee, it is relatively a more complex process than other states. This new ruling and subsequent legislative changes have made it so very few have gotten their voting rights restored.
Two Republican state legislators pushed for a more straightforward restoration process in 2019, though they were unsuccessful. Governor Bill Lee expressed that while he would not be against reevaluating the procedures, he would leave it to the legislative bodies to change instead.
The state’s Democratic and Republican lawmakers will need to come to an agreement, but this is unlikely amidst the current legislative body’s deeply divided politics.
Hannah Ferreira is a contributing writer for MTSU Sidelines.
To contact News Editor Alyssa Williams and Assistant News Editor Zoe Naylor, email [email protected].
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