Tennessee Republicans Set To Remove Requirement To Notify Voters Of Changes To Polling Places
As Tennessee Republicans redraw the state’s congressional lines to break up the only majority-Black voting district, the GOP is also pushing a change to the law that may make it harder for many of these voters to cast their ballots. Republicans are pushing to remove the requirement that voters be notified when their assigned polling places change, a move which will likely cause confusion and prevent eligible voters from casting their ballots.
Tennessee scales back notifications for polling station changes
Democracy Docket reported Thursday that the bill passed by Tennessee Republicans to carve up the state’s only majority-Black congressional district also contained a provision that may interfere with voters’ ability to cast their ballots. The gerrymandering bill contains language that eliminates the requirement that county election commissioners notify voters “immediately” when their polling places or voting precincts change after a redistricting process. Until now, commissioners were required to send individual mailers to affected voters notifying them that their polling stations have changed as well as publish this information in local newspapers. Now, county election commissioners are only required to post information about changes to polling places or precincts on their “official website, if one exists.” The less strict notification requirements, combined with shifts in voters’ polling places as a result of the redistricting, may leave many voters unaware that they can no longer cast their votes in the locations where they have done so before. This danger is especially acute for areas such as Memphis, which was targeting in the current gerrymandering process and will now be divided between three different congressional districts.
Notification change ‘too broad’ and possibly done to cut costs
The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, which sounded the alarm about the notification change, attributed the change to cost-saving measures. “The elimination of the requirement to mail voters information about where they are supposed to vote and their new precinct, if they have one, is likely tied to the cost and time it takes to produce that information and mail it,” TCOG wrote in a warning about the change. “Publishing detailed information in the local newspaper is likely also a cost that the state wants to avoid.” After its initial post, TCOG spoke with one of the authors of the changed notification requirement, Tennessee Elections Coordinator Mark Goins, who said that he did not intend the legislation to eliminate notification requirements while admitting that the language of the amendment may have been “too broad.” Goins also indicated that county election commissioners could still mail notices of precinct changes to voters and apply for state reimbursement for these mailers, although they were no longer required to send them.
Critics denounce ‘shady’ notification change
Despite these explanations, the notification change, coming as Tennessee and other Republican-led states rush to curtail or eliminate Black-dominated districts after a Supreme Court ruling gutted the Voting Rights Act, raised alarms of voter suppression on social media. Strategist and “lifelong Dem” Christopher Webb called the change “Shady AF” In a social media post. “If everything is fair and legitimate, why would they need to make it HARDER for voters to know where to vote?” Webb asked. “Because they know exactly what they’re doing. Chaos and confusion is how they win.”
“A voter who doesn’t know their polling place changed doesn’t vote. They show up at the old location, get turned away, and either don’t have time to find the right place or give up entirely,” posted “Gen X” commentator Mike Young. “This doesn’t require anyone to be turned away at the door. The suppression happens before they ever leave the house.”
Political scientist Norman Ornstein, who is also a contributing editor for The Atlantic, called the change “Jim Crow on steroids.”
Regardless of the explicit motivation behind Tennessee scaling back notification requirements for polling station changes, the impact of the new law could affect hundreds of voters who may not know where to cast their next ballots. Given that Black communities were targeted for redistricting, these same Black voters may now have yet another hurdle to clear in order to exercise their right to vote.
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