Voter Registration Restrictions Make Way to Senate Floor Despite Protests

Republican-backed legislation that would criminalize some voter registration practices has cleared the state House and is cruising toward a Senate vote Monday, despite vociferous opposition from some voting advocacy groups and claims of racist intent.

The bill, which is also backed by Secretary of State Tre Hargett, would establish class-A misdemeanors for groups that send completed registration forms within 10 days of the deadline, and would levy fines on groups that submit 100 or more deficient voter registration forms, among other new regulations.

In 2018, the Tennessee Black Voter Project registered tens of thousands of voters, but thousands of the forms they collected in Shelby County and turned in shortly before the deadline were deemed deficient. (A court ultimately granted the registrants time to fix the forms.)

The new rules are needed “given what happened this past election cycle in Memphis,” Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said Thursday, after the Senate decided to delay consideration of the bill until Monday. McNally said the group’s actions made it “very difficult” for elections officials to process the applications.

Read more: https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pith-in-the-wind/article/21065097/voter-registration-restrictions-make-way-to-senate-floor-despite-protests