A shout out to Speaker Kent Williams (R-Carter County, the Fightin’ 4th!) too, who wandered in to break the tie on HB1841 (which would urge the state executive committees to jointly establish a calendar of appearances of its gubernatorial candidates in all 95 counties), but who stayed just long enough to ask all the right questions about the constitutionality of the bill’s exceptions and the lack of tangible evidence of voter fraud in the state.

“We need legislation to prevent fraud,” Speaker Williams said, “But I’m not sure your vehicle is the right vehicle.” And then, *poof,* he was gone, leaving the meeting before the vote and without breaking the tie that would have moved the bill out of committee.

Rep. Tindell asked all the right questions and touched on all the salient points including the requirement that the ID be government issue only; the cost – in effort, time and coin – of obtaining such an ID; the number of people in the state who do not have a photo ID; the problem with provisional ballots; and the lack of fairness inherent in the legislation (if it’s going to be required, than it needs to be free for everyone):

Also written into the bill was an exception that would have allowed a voter to be excused from presenting a photo ID by signing a sworn statement of indigency. State Coordinator Goins and Rep. Tindell went head to head on the automatic loophole set up by this exception:

More importantly, though, if it’s enough for some of us to simply sign a sworn statement for their votes to count without having to show a photo ID, then why isn’t is OK for the rest of us?

Rep. Yokley once again made reference to the illegality of voter fraud and the stiff penalty attached – it’s a felony, don’t you know, punishable by a fine and a stiff jail sentence. And even though there is currently no one in jail for committing voter fraud, the proof offered by the Coordinator Goins that voter fraud exists was the famous Oh-My-God-Dead-People-In-Shelby-County-Voted-in-the-Opehlia-Ford-Senate-Election.

But what we know about that case is that the three people who plead guilty to faking votes – “two of them cast in the names of dead people” – were poll workers, not voters. And fraud by poll workers is election fraud – not voter fraud.

And it’s the poll workers who would be checking photo IDs.

Free ice cream two days in a row and a dead photo ID bill. This is the Best Week Ever!

It’s already been passed in the Senate (thanks for voting “No” Senators Beverly Marrero (D-Memphis, the Fightin’ 30th!), Lowe Finney (D-Jackson, the Fightin’ 27th!), and Andy Berke (D-Chattanooga, the Fightin’ 10th!) with six amendments attached – a poor attempt at leveling inherently unfair legislation. With the six amendments, the law would exempt the indigent, those living in a nursing home or staying in a hospital, the over-65 crowd, and those religiously opposed to having their picture taken.

Good, right? Not really. If you want participatory democracy to be equitable and still require Photo IDs to vote, then you have to make them free and easily accessible for everyone – not just a few exceptions. Perhaps we can put a voter registration and photo booth in every grocery and convenient store in town and staff them 24/7 (for you know, people who work the third shift).

Huh. Voter registration and photo booths in every grocery and convenient store. Now that’s a fiscal note I’d like to see attached to ol’ HB0639.

Ironically, while Tennessee’s elected Republicans continue to work towards making it more difficult for us to vote, they want to make it easier for us buy guns and drink underage.

And for those of you who think showing a photo ID is a reasonable restriction to place on the voting process, I guarantee you that if this passes they’ll be back next year with even further restrictions. Where Florida goes, Tennessee will follow.

So give a call or send an email to the members of the House Elections Subcommittee and urge them to vote “No” on HB0639.

Number of underage drinkers in Tennessee: 243,000 (in 2003)
Number of cases of voter fraud committed in Tennessee by registered voters: 0

Todd’s HB1838 “requires citizenship status to be proven prior to registration to vote and requires certain procedures to ensure identity and citizenship status prior to voting,” and his HB1421 would allow “a person to email a transfer of voter registration or email a request for an application to vote absentee” with a scanned signature.

Absentee ballots, by the way, are also exempt from any photo ID law, which was recently passed in the Senate, introduced by Rep. Todd’s colleague, Rep. Debra Maggart (R-Hendersonville).

So the question is, why does Rep. Todd want to pollute our equitable voter registration system with inherently inequitable legislation? Especially when there’s no proof of an actual “voter fraud” problem?

Seriously, it’s hard enough to get people to vote once let alone risk jail time by voting a second time in someone else’s name. And really, if you’re in this country illegally, is voting in the Tennessee gubernatorial election really going to be the thing you’ll risk getting caught for?

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.

Seriously worth the click to embiggen.

This Tomorrow morning at 8:30 am, the Senate State & Local Government Committee will hear SB150 by Senator Bill Ketron (the companion bill is HB0639 by Rep. Debra Maggart) which would require voter to show “qualified photographic identification” before being allowed to vote.

When last we left our bill, Senator Lowe Finney’s (D-Jackson, the Fightin’ 27th!) asked the sponsor, Senator Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), if there had “been any other instances of ‘voter fraud’ in the state of Tennessee?” Senator Ketron said he would get back to him on that. Tune in tomorrow morning for the thrilling conclusion!

While on the surface this bill may seem like a good idea, it is really a solution in search of a problem and will actually do more to disenfranchise voters than maintain the integrity of our elections.

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. While the bills include language to allow individuals to file paupers’ oaths and accompanying affidavits of indigency to waive costs, it could be uncomfortable and even humiliating to request the waiver. In addition, it is unclear how the information about the exemption will be shared and it is more likely that individuals will not go to the polls because they do not have a photo ID card.

There is no credible evidence that photo ID laws prevent fraud – The Brennan Center of Justice has studied the issue of voter fraud extensively and have concluded that someone is more likely to be hit by lightning than commit voter fraud. They also analyzed the more than 250 claims of fraud in the Supreme Court’s photo ID case and found that there was “not one proven case of a fraudulent vote that the challenged law could prevent.”

Restrictive photo ID cards disenfranchise legitimate voters – Bills like these have the potential of disenfranchise between 13 and 22 million people in the United States who do not have a photo id. A disproportionately large number of these are minorities, seniors and limited-income and disabled persons. Examples of disenfranchisement of the elderly, and poor, elderly nuns in other states who have these laws is well documented.

We should be making it easier, not harder, for people to vote – Nothing is more fundamental to our democracy than the right to vote. But bills like this one restrict, not increase, access to the voting booth. So, don’t be a voter hater. Rather than preventing Tennesseans from voting, why not ensure that every eligible voter is allowed to vote, and that every vote counts?

Please email the members of the Senate State & Local Government Committee ASAP and urge them to oppose SB150: Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro, the fightin’ 13th), Chair, Lowe Finney (D-Jackson), Vice Chair, Joe Haynes (D-Goodlettsville), Secretary, Tim Burchett (R-Knoxville), Mike Faulk (R-Church Hill), Thelma Harper (D-Nashville), Mark Norris (R-Collierville), Jim Tracy (R-Shelbyville), Ken Yager (R-Harriman).

The Voter Confidence Act, which requires that our un-secure and unverifiable touch-screen voting machines be replaced before the November 2010 election with paper ballots (read by Optical Scan machines), is important because it guarantees three important processes to protect the vote in Tennessee:

1) Tennesseans will vote on paper ballots
2) The paper ballot becomes the ballot of record in case of a recount. (The electronic voting systems we have now only have one mechanism in place for a recount – press the same button again and get a repeat of the exact same totals you got before).
3) Mandatory random post-election audits in 3% of precincts (to insure that the Optical Scan machines are functioning properly).

Why is this the worst thing happening on the Hill right now? Because if your vote doesn’t count, then nothing else matters. Your desire for women to be able to make their own reproductive health decisions doesn’t matter. Your fight for 2nd Amendment rights doesn’t matter. Your struggle for marriage equality doesn’t matter. Your vote is your voice and it speaks loudly to elected officials. When your vote can be easily discarded, manipulated, or lost, then you lose the most important voice you have.

On Tuesday, March 24, both the House Elections sub-committee and the Senate State and Local Government committee will consider the bills introduced by Republicans that will repeal and/or gut the Voter Confidence Act:

HB0295 by Rep. Glen Casada (R-Franklin) and SB0305 by Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin): As introduced, deletes provisions of the “Tennessee Voter Confidence Act” requiring purchase of precinct-based optical scanner voting systems and mandatory hand count audits. – Amends TCA Title 2 and Chapter 1108 of the Public Acts of 2008.

HB0614 by Rep. Curry Todd (R-Collierville) / SB0872 [pdf] by Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro): As introduced, deletes all provisions requiring the purchase of precinct-based optical scanner voting systems only, including language referring to Help America Vote Act funds; deletes mandatory hand count audits of paper ballots created by such machines; deletes language. – Amends TCA Title 2 and Chapter 1108 of the Public Acts of 2008.

Rep. Casada, Rep. Todd, Sen. Jackson, and Sen. Ketron – who all voted YES for the Voter Confidence Act in 2008 – will argue that the move to a more secure and verifiable voting systems will be “too costly.” Not only is this not true, but these concerns were addressed and put to rest before last year’s vote (you know, the one that was almost unanimous in the House and unanimous in the Senate):

• The costs of purchasing all the equipment to make the change will be covered completely by the federal Help American Vote Act (HAVA) funds we have remaining from our original grant. As a result, the costs to Tennessee counties for purchasing this new equipment will be $0.
• The new equipment, Optical Scan machines that will count the paper ballots, are much more efficient than touch-screen voting machines. One Optical Scan can do the work of up to 20 touch-screen voting machines.
• Optical Scans are so much more efficient that they will save voters, who often have had to stand in long lines to vote on touch-screen machines, and the employers, who are required by law to allow up to three hours off to vote, time and money. Voting on paper ballots can happen concurrently so it takes less time for each person to vote. Comparison of 21 voters voting showed that it only took 13 minutes for all 21 to vote on an Optical Scan machines and two hours and 48 minutes to vote using a touch-screen voting machine.
• The ongoing operational costs will be lower. A recent study [pdf] demonstrated that Florida counties that switched to touch-screen machines had average operating costs each year that were three to five times higher than Florida counties that kept or switched to Optical Scan machines.
• The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR), composed of state and local elected officials, spent over a year studying the vulnerabilities of different voting systems. In their comprehensive report, Trust But Verify: Toward Increasing Voter Confidence in Election Results, TACIR concluded [pdf]:

“(Paper ballots) reassure voters that their vote is being counted accurately and can be audited or recounted. Many experts and advocates believe that (touch-screen voting) machines are especially vulnerable to tampering and fraud because most do not physically document votes so they can be independently recounted or audited …. Governmental entities and private corporations are routinely audited regardless of whether problems are suspected. With so much at stake, the same should be true for elections.”

• We are being told that the costs of paper ballots capable of being read by Optical Scan machines are prohibitively expensive, running as high as 50 cents per ballot. But Tennessee counties that have used Optical Scan machines in the past have obtained paper ballots at less than half that cost. In fact, if need be, Optical Scan machines can read ballots that have been produced on routine office copying machines.
• The US Congress is now considering legislation that will require that all states implement the same election safeguards that the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act now provides us here in Tennessee. The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2009 [pdf], sponsored by Congressman Rush Holt and co-sponsored by over 200 other members of Congress, requires that all voting systems that do not use or produce a paper ballot must be replaced before the November 2010 election. The bill also requires routine random manual audits of the votes cast in at least 3% of precincts in all federal elections. Those requirements mirror exactly the standards of the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act.

The passage last year of Tennessee’s Voter Confidence Act proved that our legislators understood that free and fair elections trump partisanship. This year, it looks like some may need a little nudge in that direction. Please contact the members of the House Elections sub-committee and the Senate State and Local Government committee before Tuesday and tell them that you oppose any effort to repeal or weaken the Voter Confidence Act. In other words, urge them to keep the Voter Confidence Act intact!

House Elections Sub-Committee

Rep. Eddie Yokley (D-Greenville), Chairman
rep.eddie.yokley@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-6871
Rep Eric Watson (R-Cleveland), Vice Chairman
rep.eric.watson@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-7799
Rep. Jim Coley (R-Bartlett)
rep.jim.coley@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-8201
Rep. Joshua Evans (R-Greenbriar)
rep.joshua.evans@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-2860
Rep.Gary Moore, (D-Nashville)
rep.gary.moore@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-4317
Rep. Harry Tindell, (D-Knoxville)
rep.harry.tindell@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-2031

Senate State and Local Government Committee

Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), Chairman
sen.bill.ketron@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-6853
Senator Lowe Finney, (D-Jackson), Vice-Chair
sen.lowe.finney@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-1810
Senator Joe Haynes, (D-Nashville), Secretary
sen.joe.haynes@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-6679
Senator Tim Burchett, (R-Knoxville)
sen.tim.burchett@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-1766
Senator Mike Faulk, (R-Kingsport)
sen.mike.faulk@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-2061
Senator Thelma Harper, (D-Nashville)
sen.thelma.harper@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-2453
Senator Mark Norris, (R-Collierville)
sen.mark.norris@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-1967
Senator Jim Tracy, (R-Shelbyville)
sen.jim.tracy@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-1066
Senator Ken Yager, (R-Harriman)
sen.ken.yager@capitol.tn.gov, 615-741-1449

Thank you for doing your part to ensure free and fair elections. If during your phone calls or email exchanges you are given any other excuse reason why the Voter Confidence Act should be gutted, please let me know.

The Original Rock the Vote

Despite the best efforts of Senator Joe Haynes, Senator Lowe Finney, and Senator Thelma Harper, a bill requiring photo IDs to vote (SB0150) was passed out of the Tennessee Senate State and Local Government Committee. The final vote was 6-3 along party lines.

I couldn’t have covered the committee meeting any better than Woods at the Scene. Tom Humphrey of the Knox News Sentinel and Cara Kumari of WSMV have more. And as always, there’s big discussion going on over at a Kleinheider Joint.

In light of the party line vote, and recent on air discussions we’ve had about empathy, I have a few questions for those out there sitting in their ivory towers:

1. Have you ever had to take time off work and been told “no” repeatedly by your boss?
2. Have you ever not been able to take time off from one of your jobs because you’re paid hourly and you desperately need every dollar you make from every hour you work to be able to take care of your family?
3. Do you get a scheduled lunch that lasts 30 minutes?
4. Are you in a wheelchair for any reason? Confined to your home or your bed, perhaps?
5. How’s your moms? Is she ambulatory? Does she have a driver’s license? A photo ID? Can she locate her birth record?
6. Do you know any nuns? What about any elderly nuns who have taken a vow of poverty?
7. Have you ever needed to use public transportation because you didn’t own a car? Have you ever noticed that it sometimes takes almost twice as long to get from point A to point B if you ride the bus? (refer to questions 1, 2 & 3)

If you want participatory democracy to be equitable and still require Photo IDs to vote, then make them free and easily accessible for everyone. Perhaps we can put a voter registration and picture booth in every grocery and convenient store in town and staff them 24/7 (for you know, people who work the third shift – oh, by the way, have you ever had to work the third shift?).

Huh. Voter registration booths in every grocery and convenient store. Now that’s a fiscal note I’d like to see attached to ol’ SB0150.

Ew.

First, I’d like to thank you all for your interest in the democratic process. As you know, it’s so important that as voters and American citizens we can count on our news media and elected officials to ensure that in every election our votes will be counted and counted as cast.

Since the story broke of potential recount challenges by both candidate Barnes and Rep. Davis, a couple of things have happened.

First, Nashville Public Radio, you ran a news story in which you interviewed Tennessee Election Coordinator Brook Thompson about the process for initiating a recount. In the report, Mr. Thompson made it very clear that, because this was a primary election, the responsibility for deciding to go forward with a recount challenge was up to an individual party and their committees:

“The party really sits as judge and jury in an election contest. And so the losing candidate will contest the election. They will be given time, I presume, to make their case. The winning candidate will also be given time to make their case, and the party has to determine what it wants to do.”

Interesting story – but it was missing something. Where were the questions about the process for a recount? Where was the mention that, because of the types of electronic voting machines used in 93 of 95 counties here, a “recount” in Tennessee means pressing the same button and getting the same totals? Where was the factual statement that when using this methodology there would be absolutely no difference at all in the numbers either candidate would get after a recount? Isn’t that news? Hell, isn’t that the story?!?!

You also recently reported that “As recently as last year, two Republican candidates challenged primary results” but that “State Republican Party officials says both matters were resolved without a full recount because either the candidate couldn’t pay for it or because the committee ruled it inappropriate.”

The real reason, of course, as Rep. Davis and candidate Barnes have now figured out, is because a recount would be futile.

Now, I hear, both you, Rep. Davis, and you, candidate Barnes, are looking into challenges based on “cross-over” voting instead. Good luck with that. But is that it? Does the story of why a recount isn’t possible when an election is close now simply just go away?

I urge you, Nashville Public Radio, the National Media, Rep. David Davis, and Candidate Tim Barnes, as you go on with your news stories and your challenges, please DO NOT LET THIS STORY DIE.

Electronic voting (not bears) is the number one threat to our democracy – and not just in Tennessee:

• 28 States still use Electronic Voting Machines and will in this critical presidential election.
• The U.S. Senate is proposing an Electronic Voting Machine bill that would exacerbate these bad voting practices, not fix them.

But yes, this threat does continue in Tennessee and will do so until 2010. Right now, in Davidson County a small group of committed volunteers and Metro Council folk are fighting to prevent the Election Commission from spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to rent more of the same useless and unverifiable machines instead of buying the type that will allow for paper ballots and that they are mandated to purchase, by law, before the 2010 election.

It’s clear, sirs and madams, by the work you do that you love our democracy. But do you love it enough to realize the importance of this story – your story – and shout it from the rooftops until the rest of the country stand ups and takes notice?

Your pal,

Mary