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Tennessee elections chief accused of intimidation for telling 14,375 voters to prove citizenship

Republican secretary of state sends vaguely worded letter to voters weeks before primary

Tennessee’s top election official asked more than 14,000 registered voters to prove their citizenship in a vaguely worded letter last month in what voting and immigrant groups say is an attempt to intimidate voters.

The office of the Tennessee secretary of state, Tre Hargett, a Republican, sent the letter to 14,375 voters on 13 June, weeks before early voting was to begin for the state’s August primary. “Our office has received information that appears to indicate that your voter information matches with an individual who may not have been a United States citizen at the time of obtaining a Tennessee license or ID card,” the letter says.

It goes on to remind the recipient that illegal voting is a felony in Tennessee punishable with up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine. It requests that any person who received the letter who is a citizen provide proof, such as a US passport, birth certificate, naturalization papers or other document.

The letter offers no information about what happens if someone does not reply. It also offers no information on how their names were flagged for review. Doug Kufner, a spokesman for Hargett, did not return requests for comment.

BlessedDog ,

Honest question, can you vote without ID in the US? To me, asking for ID (or any sort of proof of citizenship and age) seems completely normal, since those are the two requirements for being eligible for voting, citizenship and being over 18 years old.

BrokenGlepnir ,

That is a state by state question. The problem people have with it, is that it frequently is done in bad faith. Here’s a few examples. Alabama has been known to shut down the places where you can get proper identification in certain areas, making it so that you have to travel long distances to get the id. Something poor people have a harder time doing. North Carolina has been proven in court to do preliminary research about what kind of ID black people tend not to have, before passing a law requiring that specific ID. Texas required IDs have your exact name on it. That doesn’t sound like a much of an issue, until you realize they did it months before the election, and their system for updating it takes longer. Any one who had changed their name, such as women who had taken their husband’s name, would not have been allowed to vote had it not been delayed by the courts.

BlessedDog ,

Wow, what the fuck? Also can you vote without identification in some States? Won’t that lead to voting fraud, eg people not eligible to cast a vote being able to vote

specialseaweed ,

I was an election monitor in the US. I am not aware of a state that lets anyone walk in and vote without any form of ID. If your ID is incorrect or cannot be confirmed, your vote is provisional and you have the opportunity to fix the issue.

IamSparticles ,

There are plenty of states where you can vote without having to show identification at the time of voting. You do have to register prior to voting, though, and that process requires identification and proof of residency. And no, none of this has ever resulted in any significant voting fraud. Between 2000 and 2014 there were only 31 documented cases of voter impersonation in the entire country.

ballotpedia.org/Voter_identification_laws_by_stat…

IamSparticles ,

This shit sickens me. It’s an attempt to deprive people of their constitutional right to vote while doing an end-run around due-process. They don’t have to prove anything, just say there’s suspicion and boom, you’re off the registry. And they intentionally do it this close to an election in the hopes that it will help swing the results in their favor. It’s blatantly obvious and I don’t understand how any court lets them get away with it.

intensely_human ,

These people are off the registry?

IamSparticles ,

If they don’t jump through whatever hoops they are supposed to to prove they are citizens, then yes, they will be removed from the voter registry. I don’t know if you’ve ever had to prove you are a legal citizen before, but it isn’t super easy. It takes time and money to get the proper documents.

Facebones ,

And nothing will happen to him.

flicker ,

How did they determine who got one of these letters? Name? Location?

AmidFuror ,

Party affiliation?

afraid_of_zombies ,

Latino last names I am betting. That is what that fucker Kris Kobach did

afraid_of_zombies ,

I hope they mailed back a response to his house that told him to go fuck himself with a crude stick figure drawing that depicts the act.

mozz ,
@mozz@mbin.grits.dev avatar

They’re not doing this because they’re confident they’re going to win

systemglitch ,

Have you looked at the polls? Just curious.

mozz ,
@mozz@mbin.grits.dev avatar

In Tennessee? I have not

systemglitch ,

I got curious and as of four days ago it’s a no contest with Trump leading by a large margin.

Here’s a screenshot: https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/b1a752f1-9000-4a3a-b0af-eae20cb24198.jpeg

Polls are a little out of date.

kboy101222 ,

It’s TN. They’ll win every seat except Nashville, Memphis, and that one West TN area I always forget the name of but they always vote Democrat. The first KKK was founded here, and the second and third were founded a stones throw away. I should know, I’ve been to Stone Mountain and witnessed Even-More-Racist-Mount-Rushmore.

That mentality has never really left rural Tennessee. Hell, even suburban Tennessee is wildly racist. My parents home town has outright stated they’ll never allow public transportation because it’d bring in more Black and Mexican people to their 85% white city.

Also last time I heard this from the city’s attorney, he didn’t say “Black” or “Mexican”. Instead it was an outright slur.

Again, this is from the city’s attorney. And he’s probably the least racist high level official.

They live 20 minutes from Nashville.

mozz , (edited )
@mozz@mbin.grits.dev avatar

Oooh

So the purpose is the racism, not the impact on the election

Makes sense. And, trying to get in on the party of voter suppression and just kinda layin the groundwork for deportations or simple violence or whatever, while everyone else is doin that stuff

Makes sense 😢

kboy101222 ,

Almost anything you see coming out of this God forsaken state is intended to hurt someone or to benefit the rich and powerful.

The last good thing that I can remember is when Tennessee Promise got passed and made college “free”. Except you had to go to either a 2 year community college or one of a handful of specific colleges (which conveniently didn’t include any HBCUs). And then you had to be enrolled in a 2 year program. And if you ever dared to declare a major (which was really easy to do accidentally), you immediately lost it for every future semester with no hope of an appeal.

Basically, there were a million ways to lose it and never get it back. This isn’t evidence of anything, but I don’t know a single person who managed to keep it for the full 2 years at a regular university.

MyOpinion ,

This push to prove citizenship is nothing but reviving Jim Crow laws for today. They will make it as difficult as possible so that poor voters of color will not be able to vote. Republicans are evil and they are lying to you about their true intentions.

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