In Tennessee, only certain convicted felons can restore their right to vote after serving their sentence, and they either need to receive a pardon or have their rights of citizenship, which includes their gun rights, restored first.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A report recently published by the Tennessee Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said Tennessee is one of the most restrictive states in the country regarding voting access, and it places additional burdens on certain voters, especially those convicted of felonies, an issue some lawmakers want to see change.
According to the Sentencing Project, an estimated 470,000 Tennesseans cannot vote due to a felony conviction, denying the right to vote to more people than 49 other states.
📧 Have breaking news come to you: Subscribe to News 2 email alerts →
Most states revoke an individual’s right to vote once they’re convicted of a felony, but more than 20 states automatically restore that right upon their release from prison. However, Tennessee only allows certain convicted felons to restore their right to vote, and they have to go through what some call a complex process to do it.
After a 2023 Supreme Court ruling, the Tennessee Coordinator of Elections announced a change in state policy to require those who qualify to have their voting rights restored to either receive a pardon first or convince a judge to restore their rights of citizenship, which includes their gun rights, in order to restore their voting rights. Opponents say the process can take months to years and can often be expensive.
“It should not be this difficult for people to simply want to take part in the electoral process,” House Democratic Caucus Chair, Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) said. “All these ridiculous hurdles have been put in place to limit voting of young people, of people of color, and you have to ask yourself why? What are the people running Tennessee afraid of? Why don’t they want these people to vote?”
Rep. Clemmons wants to see Tennessee follow the lead of several other states, some Republican-led, that automatically restore convicted felons’ voting rights after they serve their sentence.
In 2020, the Republican governor of Iowa issued an executive order to restore convicted felons’ voting rights after they have completed their sentence, including probation. Before the order, Iowa was the only state that permanently revoked convicted felons’ voting rights.
When News 2 asked Gov. Bill Lee about making it easier for convicted felons who have served their time to restore their right to vote in Oct. 2023, he said the decision would ultimately be up to the General Assembly.
Lawmakers could push to change Tennessee’s rules during the upcoming legislative session.
“Part of the penal process is of course discipline and punishment and deterrence, but the other prong of our penal system is rehabilitation,” Clemmons said. “We know those people are going to reenter society, and when they reenter society, do we want to keep them disenfranchised? Do we want to tell them that they cannot take part in their community; that they can’t be active citizens again when we’re expecting them to do just that?”
He continued, “No one wants people who are not citizens to be able to vote, nobody wants anybody to vote be able to vote fraudulently or vote twice, or anyone who is not registered to vote, to vote. We want to protect the integrity of the voting process, but American citizens and naturalized citizens, and those who have the legal right to vote should be able to vote without having to jump through multiple legal hoops.”