LIBERADIO(!)

(Background: Election fraud is a systematic effort by those with power to steal an election through vote manipulation and voter suppression. Voter fraud is when a voter attempts to vote more than once or by impersonating someone else.)

When state legislators of the Republican variety won absolute control of the Tennessee General Assembly last fall, they decided that voter suppression would be a worthy goal. Their strategy is a four-part full court press – or “war on voting,” if you prefer:

1) Repeal the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act (Paper Ballot Bill)
2) Require Proof of Citizenship to register
3) Require picture IDs to vote
4) Replace perfectly qualified election county administrators with their cronies

For more on how these four items, when combined, suppress the vote of American citizens, go to the Brennan Center for Justice and read their report.

Today at 5 p.m., both the citizenship (SB1999) and photo id SB0150 bills will come up for a vote before the full senate. Below is the summary of each bill as well as the reasons why these bills are not only not necessary but detrimental to free and full participatory democracy.

Please call your legislators before 5 PM today and ask them to vote NO on each bill. You can find your state Senator by calling the Clerk’s office at (615) 741-2730 or entering your street and zip code at the General Assembly website: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/senate/members/

SB1999 by *Norris, *Ketron. (HB1838 by *Todd.)
As introduced, requires citizenship status to be proven prior to registration to vote and requires certain procedures to ensure identity and citizenship status prior to voting. – Amends TCA Title 2 and Title 4.

• This legislation is a solution in search of a problem
• Existing law and voter registration cards already require that voters swear or affirm in writing that they are citizens. Lying on a voter registration card is already a felony.
• Tennessee law provides a procedure, including due process protection, for challenging a voter.
• Not everyone has a drivers license, birth certificate, or passport. For instance, many Tennesseans born in the 1930s and 1940s were born at home or delivered by midwives and had no birth certificate issued. Those who do not may face an undue financial burden to acquire these documents as each costs money and require time spent away from work to obtain.

Additional Bits

• Proof of voter registration from another state or county is not satisfactory evidence of citizenship so if you’re moving to Tennessee or from one county to another within the state, ask yourself one question – do you know where your birth certificate is?
• And just in case the next bill isn’t enough to make sure that a photo ID is required, this bill also amends the Tennessee Code to require the voter to present a photo ID:

  In addition, the voter shall present to the registrar one (1) form of identification that bears the name, address and photograph of the voter.

SB0150 by *Ketron, *Johnson, *Beavers. (HB0639 by *Maggart, *Faulkner, *Evans, *Weaver.)
As introduced, requires a voter to present qualified photographic identification before voting; voters without proper identification shall be allowed to cast provisional ballots. – Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 7, Part 1.

• Photo ID Laws are the modern day equivalent of a poll tax. The expenses involved in obtaining a photo ID card will prevent some individuals from voting.
• The bills include language to allow individuals to affidavits of indigency/and religious exemption to waive costs, which begs the question, if it’s enough for some people to swear they are indigent or exempt for religious reasons under penalty of law and be allowed to vote, why isn’t it good for the rest of us to swear we are who we are and be allowed to vote?
• This is a solution in search of a problem. Contrary to what we are being told, there is no pervasive voter fraud problem in the United States. In the last 10 years, the cases of prosecuted voter fraud can be counted on one hand.
• Restrictive Photo ID cards disenfranchise legitimate voters. These requirements typically impact minorities, limited-income and disabled persons, and seniors. People who belong to these groups are less likely to have access to the documents required to obtain a photo ID.

Both of these bills do nothing. They address non-existent problems. “Claims of voter fraud,” the Brennan Center report states, “should be carefully tested before they become the basis for action.” I can tell you from sitting in the committee meetings and listening to the sponsors of both SB1999 and SB0150 that all that has been offered is anecdotal evidence of “voter fraud.” When asked for instances of actual “voter Fraud,” none is presented and further discussion is dropped.

Please contact your Senator ASAP and ask them to vote NO today on SB1999 and SB0150.

Read More

• Tennessee Senate Republicans Block the Vote
• Walk a mile in a Man’s Shoes and Then Require Photo IDs to Vote
• Requiring Photo IDs to Vote is a Solution in Search of a Problem
• Do You Know Where Your Birth Certificate Is?
• Protect and Purify the Ballot: Voter Suppression Style
• Tennessee Voter Photo ID Bill Would Disenfranchise State Senator
• How Many Non-Citizens are Voting in Tennessee Elections?