More than 14,000 registered voters in Tennessee have been sent letters by the state’s top election office, requesting them to provide proof of their citizenship. However, voting rights advocates have raised concerns about this move, as it may be perceived as an act of intimidation.
On June 13, letters were sent out that cautioned noncitizens against voting in Tennessee and offered guidance on how to update voter information. The Secretary of State’s office spokesperson, Doug Kufner, revealed that the list was created by cross-referencing voter rolls with records from the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security. It is essential to note that noncitizens voting in Tennessee is considered illegal.
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According to Kufner, the information provided by the state’s homeland security department offers a glimpse of an individual’s initial encounter with the agency. It is possible that some individuals who obtained a driver’s license or ID card were not U.S. citizens at the time but have since been naturalized and may not have updated their records. In Tennessee, driver’s licenses are required to be renewed every eight years.
According to Kufner, maintaining precise voter rolls is crucial for upholding the integrity of elections. It is explicitly stated in Tennessee law that only eligible voters are permitted to partake in the state’s elections.
The voter registration update process is not clearly defined in the letter, leaving many to wonder what would happen if they fail to update their records. It is unclear whether those who don’t respond will be eliminated from the voter rolls. Further clarification is needed from Kufner, who has yet to respond to an email inquiry on the matter.
The letter does not provide any instructions on how to vote by mail. Instead, it emphasizes the severe consequences of engaging in illegal voting, which is considered a felony. The penalties for such an offense can result in imprisonment of up to two years.
When images of the letter began surfacing on social media, voting rights advocates immediately sounded the alarm. In Georgia, where the Republicans have a stronghold, the Secretary of State’s office has been under fire from Democrats for its positions on voting matters.
State Representative Jason Powell, a Democrat from Nashville, expressed his outrage over the allegations that legal citizens and Tennessee residents are being deemed ineligible to vote. He stated that this is a direct attack on democracy and that these individuals are being unfairly burdened with the task of proving their eligibility to vote. Powell also condemned the use of scare tactics, which he likened to those used during the Jim Crow era.
On Tuesday, Powell and Democratic Representative John Ray Clemmons called on Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti to investigate the issue at hand.
According to Democratic Representative Gloria Johnson, a resident of Knoxville, one of the individuals who received the letters was a recently naturalized citizen and well-regarded scientist from Oak Ridge who registered to vote in 2022.
Johnson suggested on X, previously known as Twitter, that the state should confirm citizenship with the federal government before sending intimidating letters to new citizens.
Leaders urged recipients of the letter to get in touch with the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee for potential legal assistance.
Sean Morales-Doyle, who serves as the director of the voting rights program at The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law, expressed his concern about the impact of the current system on eligible citizens. In his opinion, the system is capturing a significant number of eligible citizens on the rolls and threatening them with criminal prosecution. He further added that he finds the actions of the system unconscionable and believes that it may violate several federal laws.
In 2021, Texas passed a voting law that resulted in the distribution of letters to several Texans, including some who were U.S. citizens, alerting them that they had been identified as potential noncitizens and could face removal from the voting rolls. The current effort bears a striking similarity to this incident.
In 2019, Texas officials resolved a lawsuit that arose from a previous search for ineligible voters. This search had flagged nearly 100,000 registered voters, including naturalized citizens who were not ineligible to vote. The search was halted by a federal judge just a month after it began, as it was found that only around 80 individuals had been identified as potentially ineligible to vote.
