With fewer than 50 days until the Nov. 5 election, the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office is encouraging all Tennesseans to register to vote.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — With fewer than 50 days until the Nov. 5 election, the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office is encouraging all Tennesseans to register to vote.
Tuesday, Sept. 17, is National Voter Registration Day, a day when Americans are asked to double-check their voter registration or to register to vote for the first time.
The nonprofit National Voter Registration Day also encourages people to check their registration so they can participate in the nation’s democracy. According to the nonprofit organization, as many as one in four eligible Americans are not registered to vote.
According to a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Elections Performance Index (EPI), Tennessee ranked dead last in voter turnout in 2022, with only 31.34% of the eligible voting population casting a ballot in the midterm elections. The nationwide average was 47.54%, according to the EPI.
Data from Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office puts the official figure slightly higher, at 38.61%. Official voter turnout data from the 2022 midterm elections lists 1,756,397 of a possible 4,549,183 voters cast ballots in 2022.
Of those ballots cast, a staggering 48.09%—844,602—were cast during the early voting period, according to the secretary of state’s data.
“It has never been easier to register or cast a ballot in Tennessee,” Hargett said in a Monday release. “If you have not already registered, National Voter Registration Day is a great opportunity to do so.”
In order to vote in the Nov. 5 state and federal general election, Tennesseans must be registered by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7.
Am I currently registered to vote?
Tennesseans can check their voter registration online at GoVoteTN.gov or by using the GoVoteTN app, available on both iPhones and Android cellphones through their respective app stores. The app is free to download.
Prospective voters can also visit their local county election commission office to register in person. If you are not sure where your local election commission office is located, you can select your county online here.
Can I vote if I am homeless?
Prospective voters who find themselves unhoused are also permitted to register, according to the secretary of state’s office. While Tennessee residency is required in order to vote in Tennessee elections, state law defines a voter’s residence as “the place where the person’s habitation is fixed and is where, during periods of absence, the person definitely intends to return.”
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If a person is without a building to call home, they can still register to vote, so long as they provide an address where they usually stay, including shelters or even specific street corners where they typically rest.
“A physical description of the location must be given so that the election commission knows in which voting precinct to place the person,” according to the secretary of state’s website.
Can I vote in a local election if I don’t live in the city?
Non-resident property owners may also have the right to vote in local elections if the charter of the municipality allows for it. According to the secretary of state, you may need to contact the city attorney and local election commission for further information on voting as a non-resident property owner.
If your local municipality allows for non-resident property owner voting, you must provide proof of property ownership at the time you register to vote.
How are voter registrations purged?
State law dictates registered voters remain permanently registered unless the election commission must remove them from the records. Only certain actions get a voter removed from active registration in Tennessee.
Voters are purged from registration records under the following circumstances:
Upon request to purge by the voter
The voter has had a name change for 90 days or more and failed to notify the election commission—except if the name change occurred by marriage
The death of the voter
The voter has been convicted of an “infamous crime”
Upon written confirmation that the voter has moved outside the county of registration or has registered to vote in another jurisdiction
If the voter fails to respond to a confirmation notice and the voter fails to otherwise update their registration for two November elections following the date the confirmation notice was first sent
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