Tag: voter registration

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Judge Temporarily Halts Voter Registration Law From Taking Effect

CREDIT: U of M/Facebook

U of M/Facebook

A voter registration event at University of Memphis last year

A state law that places restrictions on voter registration efforts was temporarily blocked Thursday by a federal court.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee filed for an emergency preliminary injunction late last month to halt the law from taking effect.

The law, signed by Governor Bill Lee in May, mandates a slew of requirements for those participating in voter registration efforts and penalties for those who don’t comply. It was set to take effect on October 1st.

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee Judge Aleta Trauger granted the ACLU’s motion for emergency injunction Thursday.

Trauger wrote that the plaintiffs would “suffer irreparable harm if the injunction is not granted, and that the public interest strongly favors granting the injunction.”

The injunction means the state cannot take any steps to “implement, enforce, conduct investigations pursuant to, or assist in any prosecution” under the law.

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Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee said that Trauger’s ruling “indicates that the court understands the dangerous burdens this law places on organizations simply trying to ensure that as many eligible voters can participate in the democratic process as possible.”

“This decision allows our clients to continue their important work of registering voters — including those who have been historically disenfranchised — this election season,” Weinberg said. “We look forward to the day when this unconstitutional law can be struck down for good.”

The ACLU, along with the Campaign Legal Center and Fair Elections Center filed a lawsuit in May challenging the legislation on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, the American Muslim Advisory Council, the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center, Rock the Vote, Spread the Vote, Central Labor Council, and HeadCount. The lawsuit is still ongoing.

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Danielle Lang, co-director of voting rights and redistricting for the Campaign Legal Center calls the law in question “punitive,” noting that voter registration drives have historically been a way for marginalized groups to gain access to the ballot box.

“This law punished civic organizations for seeking to help register voters, particularly those in underserved communities,” Lang said. “As the court recognized, it struck at the heart of free speech rights and imposed needless burdensome regulations.”

Thursday’s ruling by Trauger is a “significant victory,” said Michelle Cohen, counsel at Fair Elections Center.

“The court’s ruling recognizes the critical role of these efforts in our democracy,” Cohen said. “Because the court stopped these restrictions from going into effect, the door to participating will remain open to community-based civic engagement efforts to engage fellow citizens, which are so badly needed in Tennessee.”

Earlier this week, the state moved to have the lawsuit dismissed, but Trauger denied that request, saying in her decision that the plaintiffs in the case have presented “plausible claims.” She raised many concerns about the law in her decision, calling the law a “complex and punitive scheme.”

Trauger also cited the low number of registered voters in her decision. There were 4,872,000 voting-aged Tennesseans, but only 3,183,000 registered voters as of November 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission ranked Tennessee 44th out of all states in the percentage of its citizens registered to vote.

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News News Blog

Judge Denies State’s Request to Dismiss Voter Registration Lawsuit


A federal judge denied the state’s request to dismiss a lawsuit Monday that challenges a new state law that would put substantial requirements in place for groups that participate in voter registration efforts.

Judge Aleta Trauger for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee said that the lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee and the Campaign Legal Center and Fair Elections Center, will proceed.

Trauger said the plaintiffs in the case have presented “plausible claims.” She raised many concerns about the law in her decision, calling the law a “complex and punitive scheme.” 

Judge Aleta Trauger

“If Tennessee is concerned that voter registration drives are being done incompetently, it can engage in public education efforts without relying on a complex and punitive regulatory scheme,” Trauger wrote. “If it is concerned that the drives are being done fraudulently — for example, by a person or organization collecting forms and never turning them in — it can punish the fraud rather than subjecting everyone else to an intrusive prophylactic scheme that true bad actors would likely evade regardless.”


One of the judge’s key concerns is the lack of guidance that the legislation’s language offers.

“The ambiguity, as well, places too much burden on individuals who merely wish to exercise their First Amendment rights within the law,” Trauger wrote.

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The vagueness of the law leads to uncertainty which is “inherently likely to result in a chilling effect on organizations and individuals who wish to participate in voter registration but who cannot afford to find themselves on the wrong side of an enforcement action,” Trauger said.

The judge also noted that restricting voter registration drives in order to try to preserve election commission resources is “like poisoning the soil in order to have an easier harvest. There is no point in taking a step to preserve resources if, by doing so, one thoroughly compromises the reason that the resources were important in the first place.”

Read Trauger’s decision in full below. 

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The law in question was signed by Governor Bill Lee in May and is slated to go into effect on October 1st.

Late last month, the ACLU filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. If granted, the injunction would prohibit the state from penalizing those participating in voter registration who don’t meet all the requirements of the new law.

There were 4,872,000 voting-aged Tennesseans, but only 3,183,000 registered voters as of November 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission ranked Tennessee 44th out of all states in the percentage of its citizens registered to vote.


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News News Blog

ACLU Moves to Stop State Voter Registration Law From Taking Effect

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Tennessee filed for an emergency injunction Friday in an attempt to stop a state law that places substantial requirements on voter registration efforts from going into effect.

The law, signed by Governor Bill Lee in May, mandates a slew of requirements for those participating in voter registration efforts and penalties for those who don’t comply. It is set to take effect on October 1st.

Some of the requirements of the law include providing the coordinator of elections with information about any voter drive prior to holding it, completing a training session, and filing a sworn statement stating an intention to obey the laws and procedures pertaining to the process.

The law also creates civil and criminal penalties to groups or individuals who turn in more than 100 “deficient filings.” Groups opposing the law have said it would place “strict, unnecessary, and irrational restrictions” on community-based voter registration efforts.

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Soon after the law was passed, the ACLU, along with the Campaign Legal Center and Fair Elections Center filed a lawsuit challenging the legislation in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee, the American Muslim Advisory Council, the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, Rock the Vote, Spread the Vote, Central Labor Council, and HeadCount.

The ongoing lawsuit, League of Women Voters of Tennessee v. Hargett, argues that the law violates the freedoms of speech, association, due process, and “the fundamental right to vote under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”

Now, the ACLU is trying to stop the law from going into effect by filing a motion for a preliminary injunction. If granted, the injunction would prohibit the state from penalizing those participating in voter registration who don’t meet all the requirements of the new law. Read the full motion for injunction below. 

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“Civic-minded groups like our clients should be able to help community members register to vote without the threat of being charged with a crime or slapped with an exorbitant fine,” said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee. “While this case works its way through the system and we prove in court why this law is unfair and unconstitutional, our clients should be able to help as many Tennesseans as they can gain access to the ballot box.”

Tuesday (today) is the last day to register to vote to participate in the upcoming city elections, set for Thursday, October 3rd. Voters can register one of three ways: online, via mail, or in person. Find more information on how to register here. 

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Letter From The Editor Opinion

Letter from the Editor: I Can’t Stand Your Ground

Well, we Tennesseans dodged a bullet, didn’t we? Or maybe several. The state House of Representatives finally showed some common sense and blocked passage of the proposed “open carry” law that passed the Senate two weeks ago. That bill would have allowed anyone who could legally purchase a gun to carry it on their person at any time, as long as it was visible. Current required safety measures such as a permit, a criminal background check, or gun safety training would have been made a thing of the past.

I was in a Japanese restaurant recently and noticed a guy sitting at the bar. He was eating sushi, of all things, and he had a handgun strapped to his belt. It was a little disconcerting, to be honest, and my first thought was: Why the hell would you need a handgun in a sushi restaurant? But I assumed that at least this guy had a legal right to carry the gun and therefore had at least some level of safety training.

Why anyone but the wackiest of gun fetishists would think it’s a good idea to remove even that thin veneer of reassurance and allow almost anyone to impulsively buy a gun and start carrying it around in public is beyond me.

We make sure people know how to drive well enough to obtain a driver’s license before letting them take to our public streets in a vehicle. Why shouldn’t we do the same for firearms? Yes, I know, gun lovers will claim that carrying a gun is a constitutional right, while driving a car is not. Really? We have a constitutional right to vote, but you don’t hear gun nuts screaming about all the measures being put into place by the GOP to limit voting days and hours and require a specific state ID to cast a ballot. Funny how that works.

The Second Amendment reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” What part of “well regulated” is confusing? If we can “regulate” who can vote — arguably our most important right — we can certainly regulate gun ownership, at least to the degree of designating who can carry handguns and where.

And let’s be real: No one is taking away anyone’s guns. Quite the opposite has happened over the past few years. If you want to carry a handgun legally, it’s never been so easy to do — certainly no more difficult than getting a driver’s license or registering to vote. If you want to buy a rifle or a shotgun or something even more lethal, that’s even easier. Your right — and mine — to own and bear arms has never been safer.

But a law that would make it legal and easy for anyone — meth heads, gang members, angry drunks, the mentally ill, the bitter dumped boyfriend — to quickly buy a gun, strap it on, and head out into public is just insane. I’m glad cooler heads prevailed in Nashville. Or I guess I should say, I’m glad someone finally stood their ground.

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com