Newly elected Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Lowe Finney (D-Jackson, the Fightin’ 27th!) – who will be filling the void left by gubernatorial candidate Roy Herron – is booked to appear on Liberadio(!) on Monday, May 11th.
Following his election on a unanimous vote, Senator Finney said:
“I am humbled by the confidence that my Senate Democratic Caucus colleagues have placed in me today. I will give it my best effort as we continue to work hard on the things that matter most to Tennesseans in these challenging times.
“I am grateful to Senator Herron for his thoughtful and thorough leadership as well as his friendship.â€
We’re looking forward to interviewing Senator Finney, one of the members of the talented and energetic emerging young guns sub-caucus.
(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.
This morning, the Tennessee State Senate State and Local Government Committee met to discuss a bill that would require a voter “to present qualified photographic identification before voting” (SB0150). During the discussion, Senator Joe Haynes (D-Nashville) made an impassioned plea to the bill’s sponsor, Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), to delay the bill for further study…
Senator Haynes: Senator Ketron, I know that what you’re doing is well-meaning, and I respect that. But this is something that bothers me greatly because there are people in the world that don’t have driver’s license, don’t have photo ID. There are people in the world who are 65 and older that have a driver’s license without a photo ID on it. There’s a class of peple who are not indigent but yet don’t have a photo ID. And to those people, your bill excludes them from voting in our state. I consider that enough of a problem that I would challenge you..and we do this a lot when we see there are legitimate questions that we have….we try and take public testimony and we try to study it. There’s not another election until next next year. I don’t see what harm would be done if we took some public testimony. And we studied this to try an see what we could do to improve it and work on it and come back next year and try to adopt a system that’s workable. I think you’ve done a good job of trying to patch this up and I respect you for it..but I’m greatly concerned about people that fall in the categories I just described…because what you are doing is either 1) you’re forcing somebody to lie that says in their affidavit of identity that they have a relgiosu objection or that they are indigent and nobody is going to go out and check if they are indiegent there not going to be any system for that – that would be so burdensome that there would be no way to work it out of an election commission office…I’m going to ask you if you would consider putting this in a study committee so we could look at this properly…would you consider that, Senator Ketron?
Senator Bill Ketron says, “Thanks, but no thanks”:
Sentor Ketron: *Big sigh* No, Senator Haynes, I won’t. You know, in 2007, the full Senate passed this and in 2008 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled – it was upheld in Marion Country v. Indiana – that it is constitutional..currently there are seven states that require photo IDs…all of those require photo ID. We have seven different opportunities – Tennessee driver’s license photo ID issued by Tennessee and other states in the U.S., photo ID issued by the Tennessee Department of Safety, a U.S. passport, employee ID issued by Tennessee…U.S. military ID. In 2013 the Real ID act goes into effect and my attempt here is to protect and purify the ballot. That is one of the only things we have in this country today is the ability to vote and that can’t be taken away from you unless you go to prison. So, um, I feel very strongly about that for any person who cheats and votes a convicted felon or a dead person and takes away the right of me or you or anyone else who votes you have been disenfranchised by that person voting…so that’s my purpose of bringing the bill.
Senator Haynes: You are taking away a certain class of people’s right to vote when you pass this legislation. Until everybody has an ID, required either by this bill or some bill or some national legislation you gonna find people that are going to be excluded from voting because they don’t have a voter [photo] ID…and I think that flies in the face of what you just said, Senator Ketron, that is that you don’t want to take away anybody’s right to vote…
Senator Haynes attempts to salvage his own franchise, and with it, our participatory democracy:
Senator Mike Faulk (R-Kingsport): I’ve heard comments between…there are large numbers of people vs. there are some people that fall into the category that Senator Haynes describes, that is, over 65, not indigent, but no photo ID. I feel like we’re speculating and guessing does anyone know, do we have any information, any statistical data on how many folks fall into that category.
Senator Haynes: Senator Faulk in response to that, if it’s one person, it’s one person too many. If it’s one person, it’s one person too many. And if you want to come over and check my driver’s license, I happen to be 65 or older – I know I probably don’t look it…you’re out of order – but I don’t have a photo ID. I don’t have a photo on my driver’s license. because I was in a hurry that day and I knew I didn’t have to have a photo and I didn’t get one and I checked that..and got it without one. So, if I go in I can’t get a photo ID. I’d have to go back and reapply for my driver’s license. So you’re going to force everyone to get a photo ID.
An exchange between Senator Thelma Harper (D-Nashville) and election coordinator Mark Goins addresses the process for notification of voters of the new system. Mr. Goins said they would do everything they could to get the word out. For free – since doing it any other way would add another fiscal note. And I’m sure they will. Except when, you know, they don’t.
On August 8, 2008,
in Uncategorized,
by Mary Mancini
Dear Tim Barnes,
Congratulations on a well-fought race against Senator Kurita. The race was so close in Tennessee State Senate District 22 (the fightin’ 22nd!) and the fact that incumbent Rosalind Kurita beat you by only 19 votes is a testament to your hard work and dedication to your campaign.
Due to the closeness of the race, it is completely understandable that you would want a recount. It’s the smart – and right – thing to do.
But there is one thing you should know – a recount is an absolute waste of time.
You see, the machines used in both Montgomery and Houston counties are electronic. So, to get vote totals for each machines, an election official merely presses a button. A “recount” for these machines means pressing the same button and getting the same totals. There will be no difference at all in the numbers you get after the recount.
Now, if Tennesseans used paper ballots to vote (and they will in 2010) and those paper ballots were the lawful ballot of record, then you might actually be able to see exactly how the voters in The Fightin’ 22nd voted. And rather than rely on easily hackable electronic machines that spit out the same results no matter how many times you request a “recount,” you would have tangible pieces of paper that represent the real intent of the voter.
Congratulations again on a well-fought contest. And good luck in 2010.
On January 16, 2008,
in Uncategorized,
by Mary Mancini
Tomorrow, Thursday, January 17, at 9:30 a.m., the legislature’s Voter Confidence Act Legislative Study Committee will meet to discuss SB 1363 (Senator Haynes), HB 1256 (Representative Moore) – legislation that will mandate that all voting equipment in Tennessee use or produce a voter-verified paper ballot and that statewide random post-election manual audits be conducted to verify the vote count. More information here.
Go to VoteSafeTN.org to find all the information you need to contact the members of the committee and urge them to take immediate action so Tennessee may have secure November elections. And if you can, please attend the meeting.
The agenda [pdf] is interesting. Chairman Burchett has asked that Common Cause of Tennessee, Gathering to Save our Democracy, Secretary of State Riley Darnell, and State Election Coordinator Brook Thompson be present for questions/clarification from the committee. Hijinks will surely ensue.
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