Trump-appointed panel halts Tennessee rights restoration victory

Months after a federal judge prevented Tennessee from wrongfully denying voting rights to people convicted of felonies, a conservative panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put the decision on hold.

Despite the fact that the lower court’s decision would have made the voting process for people with prior convictions less complicated, more fair and consistent with federal law, three Trump-appointed judges put the decision on hold.

Previously, the trial court ruled that Tennessee’s current practice of denying individuals the right to vote by rejecting registration forms when applicants indicate they have had a prior felony conviction – and requiring those applicants to provide documentary evidence proving their eligibility to vote – violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The trial court also ruled that Tennessee’s current voter registration form did not comply with the NVRA’s requirements to inform voters of the restoration of their rights.

After Republican state officials appealed to the 6th Circuit, they asked the court to stay the trial court’s decision. To quote Purcell principle — the idea that changes shouldn’t be made close to an election to avoid voter confusion — the 6th Circuit panel granted Republican officials’ request. Because the 6th Circuit put a major decision on hold, the state’s policy will remain in effect while the lawsuit is ongoing, and election officials could wrongly reject voter registration forms.

Original Post, April 19

WASHINGTON — Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that Tennessee election officials cannot wrongfully deny the right to vote to Tennesseans with prior felony convictions by improperly discarding eligible voter registration forms. Additionally, the court ruled that the state’s registration form must adequately inform potential voters with prior felony convictions of their eligibility.

The Campaign Legal Center called the decision “a major step in the right direction,” and the rest of the lawsuit’s claims are expected to be heard in the coming months.

Specifically, the court found that the state’s current practice of denying individuals the right to vote by rejecting voter registration forms when applicants indicate they have previously been convicted of a crime and requiring those applicants to provide proof of their eligibility to vote violates the National voter registration (NVRA). The court also found that Tennessee’s current voter registration form does not meet the NVRA’s requirements for informing voters that their rights have been restored.

Tennessee has an extremely high rate of disenfranchisement, which disproportionately affects Black Tennesseans. According to the lawsuit, “Black people make up 16% of the state’s total voting age population, but constitute 39% of the disenfranchised population. Of the state’s 451,000 disenfranchised citizens, nearly 175,000 are Black, representing more than 21% of the Black voting-age population – one of the highest rates of Black disenfranchisement in the United States.”

The lawsuit alleges that Tennessee has a particularly arduous process for restoring voting rights to people with prior felony convictions. The plaintiffs also argue that Tennessee’s implementation of the restoration process creates “an uneven, fragmented system across Tennessee’s ninety-five counties, resulting in disparate outcomes for similarly situated individuals,” and that at least one county, Rutherford County, charges a fee for the process. The plaintiffs argue that the fee constitutes a poll tax and violates the 24th Amendment.

Read the review here.

You can read more about this case here.