Newsletter from Tennessee Citizen Action; March 22, 2012:
We took your fight to repeal the government-issued photo ID to vote law to the House State & Local Government Subcommittee and a majority of the House members in that committee voted for the bill to repeal photo ID to vote. But that’s just one hurdle cleared. Here’s the next one…
HB2176 / SB2139, the bill to repeal the photo ID to vote law, will be heard in the House State & Local Government and the Senate State & Local Government committees next Tuesday, March 27.
Here’s what you can do to help…
- Your Presence makes a difference! The Senate committee will meet at 10:30 am on Tuesday, March 27, in room 12* and the House committee will meet at 1:30 pm in room 16* on the same day. If you are able to attend, THANK YOU!, we will need a strong show of support in the committee rooms (and please come early and wear yellow). Signs are not allowed in the committee rooms but we will have “Repeal Photo ID to Vote Stickers” that you can wear to identify yourselves as supporters of voting rights for all. Directions & Parking info below.*
- Get on the phone! Call your State House representative and State Senator to urge them to repeal the photo ID to vote law. Find the phone number for your representatives by going to www.capitol.tn.gov/legislators and entering your address and zip code. House State & Local Government committee members are listed here and Senate State & Local Government committee members are listed here.
- Send an Email! Email your State House representative and State Senator to urge them to vote YES for HB2176 / SB2139 and repeal the photo ID to vote law. Find the email address for your representatives by going to www.capitol.tn.gov/legislators and entering your address and zip code.
- Urge Everyone You Know to Sign the Petition! The petition to repeal the photo ID to vote law is still going strong. Please send the link to the petition to everyone you know and urge them to sign: protectthevotetn.org/petition.
*DIRECTIONS: Enter Legislative Plaza at corner of 6th & Union. Go through Security and make a right. Committee room 30 will be on the left.
*PARKING: The Nashville Public Library Garage offers free parking for the first 90 minutes. Entrances are on 6th and 7th Avenues between Church and Commerce Streets (and discounted rates with validation after that). Accessible parking for persons with disabilities is available on the 4th level of the garage near the entrance to the library. More info: http://www.library.nashville.org
For more info or questions contact: Tennessee Citizen Action, Mary Mancini, 615-736-6040 or mary@tnca.org
OTHER ELECTION BILLS – UPDATE
Here’s what happened this week and what is also up again next week for other bills related to the photo ID to vote law:
HB2730 (sponsor Rep. Joe Pitts, D-Clarksville) / SB2447 (sponsor Sen. Lowe Finney, D-Jackson) which would student IDs from public universities in Tennessee to be used for voting passed out of House State & Local Sub and will be heard in both the full House State & Local Govt committee and Senate State & Local Govt committee on Tuesday, March 27.
HB2586 (sponsor: Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga) and SB2465 (sponsor Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga), which would require the Secretary of State to publicize the photo ID to vote requirement at least 30 days prior to early voting via Public Service Announcements on radio & TV passed out of House State & Local Sub and will be heard in both the full House State & Local Govt committee and Senate State & Local Govt committee on Tuesday, March 27.
HB3747 (sponsor Rep. Mike Turner, D-Old Hickory) and SB3728 (sponsor Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden) which would allow county election offices to take photo ID to vote if there isn’t Driver Service Center in that county passed out of House State & Local Sub and will be heard in both the full House State & Local Govt committee and Senate State & Local Govt committee on Tuesday, March 27.
HB2174 (sponsor Rep. Debra Maggart, R-Hendersonville) and SB2128 (sponsor Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro) allows persons age 60 and older to vote absentee upon request, instead of age 65 and older passed the full House and to be heard in Senate Finance, Ways & Means at some point.
HB3388 (sponsor Rep. John Mark Windle, D-Livingston) and SB3378 (sponsor: Sen. Eric Stewart, D-Belvidere) which would exempt someone with an honorable discharge from the military from the photo ID to vote law passed out of House State & Local Sub and will be heard in both the full House State & Local Govt committee and Senate State & Local Govt committee on Tuesday, March 27.
HB2709 (sponsor Rep. Mike Turner, D-Old Hickory) and SB2692 (sponsor Sen. Joe Haynes, D-Nashville) would allow any registered voter in Tennessee to vote by absentee ballot will be heard in House State & Local Government committee and Senate State & Local Government committee on Tuesday, March 27.
HB2062 (sponsor Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley) allows a voter who does not have the required photo ID to vote to appear in person at the county election commission office during the early voting period, sign an affidavit of identity, pose for a digital photograph, and be allowed to vote failed in House State & Local Subcommittee.
HB2063 (sponsor Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley) and HB2190 (sponsor Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga) would exempt seniors from photo ID to vote law failed in House State & Local Subcommittee.
WHAT VOTER FRAUD?
The justification for the photo ID to vote law has always been “to combat fraud.” Yet, after 3 years of asking proponents of the law to show evidence of voter fraud, we still don’t have an answer.
So, if “voter fraud” is their real concern, and not a manufactured one, then why aren’t they strengthening the already existing laws that punish those who commit fraud (the punishment is already a felony conviction with jail time and a fine) instead of punishing everyone else?
TIM SAMPSON: “I wish the 3 Shelby County poll workers who admitted to fraud 7 years ago had been able to predict the future.” | Read More (Memphis Flyer)
STUDY: An analysis of more than 250 claims of fraud in the Supreme Court’s Indiana photo ID case – Finding not one proven case of a fraudulent vote that the challenged law could prevent. (Brennan Center for Justice) | Read more.
STUDY: How State Media Turned A Blind Eye To ALEC’s Influence On The Voter ID Debate | Read More
NEWS: Voter ID drive part of quiet, well-funded national conservative effort | Read more
NEWS: In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud. An intensive five-year investigation by the Department of Justice earlier this decade produced only 86 voter fraud convictions and most of these would not have been prevented by a voter ID law | Read more
NEWS: The Two-Fold Voter Fraud Fraud | Read more
STUDY: The Truth About Voter Fraud (Brennan Center for Justice) | Read More
TOM HUMPHREY: Did Photo ID Law (and AG) Ignore State Constitution? | Read more (Knox News Sentinel)
NEWS: How Voter ID Laws Are Being Used to Disenfranchise Minorities and the Poor | Read more
NEWS: A.F.L.-C.I.O. Takes On Voter ID Laws | Read more
NEWS: Ari Berman writes about the Republican-led”war on voting” in his latest piece in Rolling Stone.
EVENT:
ARTICLE ONE, SECTION FIVE
Join Tennessee Citizen Action at Bar No. 308 in East Nashville on the third Thursday of every month for Article One, Section Five, and move it all over, under, sideways, and down. Yep.
WHAT: Dance Party
WHEN: Thursday, April 19, 2012, 5:30 – 7:30 pm
WHERE: No. 308, 407 Gallatin Avenue, Nasvhille, TN
SPECIAL GUEST: You…and your boogie shoes.
No Cover Charge
Plenty O’ Parking
Food & Drink Specials
*Article One, Section Five of the TN Constitution: “The elections shall be free and equal, and the right of suffrage, as hereinafter declared, shall never be denied to any person entitled…”
