Voter Registration In Tennessee

I.      Qualifications To Register To Vote

        A.                Citizen of the United States;

        B.                Eighteen (18) years old, or will be on or before the date of the next election;

        C.                Resident of the State of Tennessee; and

        D.                Has not been convicted of a felony or declared mentally incompetent by a court of law. 

II.    Process for Registering to Vote

        A.                In Person

                    1.   Election Commission Office

a)                             a)    Employees of Election Commission

                          b)     Designees of Election Commission - T.C.A. § 2-2-111 allows the county election commission to appoint individuals to conduct supplemental voter registration at sites other than the election commission office. 

                    2.  NVRA Agencies – T.C.A. §§ 2-2-201 and 2-2-202

a)     Active Agencies – These agencies have a statutory duty to offer voter registration forms along with their own agency applications to the people that their agencies serve and to transmit to the election commission office any and every voter registration form completed in the presence of one of their employees.

(1)   Tennessee Department of Safety;

(2)   Tennessee Department of Human Services;

(3)    Tennessee Department of Health;

(4)   Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Retardation;

(5)   Division of Mental Retardation Services;

(6)   United States Department of Veteran’s Affairs;

(7)   United States Department of Defense

b)     Passive Agencies – These agencies have a statutory duty to have voter registration forms available at their offices for voters to complete and to transmit to the county election commission office any and every voter registration form completed in the presence of their employees.

(1)   County clerks;

(2)   Registers of deeds

(3)   Public high schools; and

(4)   Public libraries

    B.  By Mail

        1.        State Form

        2.        Internet Forms

a)     Obtained from Elections Division website –

www.state.tn.us/sos/election.htm

b)     Obtained from Department of Safety website –

www.state.tn.us/safety

c)      NOTE:  Although the voter registration form may be a copy from a website, an original signature from the voter is still required.

III.      Duration of Registration

    A.         Permanent – T.C.A. § 2-2-105

1.      A voter registration is permanent in that it is unnecessary for any voter to register again within his or her county of registration, unless the voter's registration is purged under T.C.A. § 2-2-106.  

    B.         Temporary

1.      Applications to vote absentee by mail received from qualified non-registered voters who are armed forces personnel anywhere outside the county where the voter resides or from qualified voters temporarily staying outside the territorial limits of the United States and of the District of Columbia must be processed as temporary voter registrations.  T.C.A. § 2-6-502. 

2.      A temporary registration under T.C.A. § 2-6-502 is not subject to the twenty-nine (29) day deadline set in T.C.A. § 2-2-109. 

3.      The temporary registration expires after two (2) November elections have passed for the date of the temporary registration.

Reasons To Reject Voter Registration Applications:

                A. Not providing social security number;

                B. Not signing the application;

                C. Not providing a complete address;

                D. Not providing the date of birth;

                E. Not completing the form in ink;

                F. If assistance was given, no signature or address of person giving the assistance;

                G. Not answering the felony question, or affirmatively answering the felony question, but not providing the proper proof of the restoration of voting rights.

Reasons To Purge Voter Registration Records – T.C.A. § 2-2-106

            A. At the request of the voter; 

            B. Ninety (90) days after a change of name for any reason, except by marriage; 

            C. Voter dies; 

            D. Upon receiving information that a person has been convicted of an infamous crime as defined by § 40-20-112 from the state coordinator of elections, the district attorney general, United States attorney, clerk of the court that entered the conviction, or other source upon verification by the clerk of the convicting court;

            E. Upon written confirmation from the voter or notification from the county election commission office that the voter has changed the voter's address to an address outside the county of registration or has registered to vote in another jurisdiction.

            F. If a voter does not respond to the confirmation notice, does not appear to vote, and does not update the voter registration between the time a confirmation notice is sent and the second regular November election held after the notice was sent.