Bill Preventing Illegal Immigrants, Convicted Felons From Registering To Vote In Tennessee Passes In House Committee

Image Credit: Adelia Kirchner / The Tennessee Conservative & TN General Assembly

The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –

House Bill 69 (HB0069), sponsored by Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland-District 44) passed in the House State and Local Government Committee by a 16-2 vote on Wednesday afternoon.

This legislation intends to establish “major safeguards to strengthen election integrity in Tennessee” and does three main things:

• Requires the Secretary of State to work with local and state election officials to create a secure electronic portal for county election administrators to verify U.S. citizenship and voter eligibility by January of 2025.
• Requires the coordinator of elections, in collaboration with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, to create a similar portal to verify whether someone is ineligible to vote because of a felony conviction by January of 2025.
• Requires a visual distinction, such as a color or font on the face of a photo identification license, to differentiate the class designation for the purpose of voting.

“This requires the secretary of state and the coordinator of elections to create a portal that would check as to whether or not someone is a convicted felon or if they are a U.S. citizen prior to them being actually registered to vote,” Rep. Lamberth said in committee.

“When somebody goes down to register to vote right now, there’s nothing that checks that. This would just be a system, they have a grant for it,” he continued. “It would ensure that only U.S. citizens and only those that have not been convicted of felonies or had their rights restored after having been convicted of a felony, would be actually voting.”

Rep. Lamberth noted that there were 15 convicted felons who voted in Sumner County over the last couple of years. 

Those individuals were charged with multiple felonies for registering to vote as a convicted felon and then proceeding to vote.

“Some of their convictions were 20 and 30 years old,” Rep. Lamberth explained. “They had not gotten their rights restored but it had been so long back, they went down and registered to vote and just assumed, many of them, that they wouldn’t be allowed to if they were not permitted to.”

During that time, Rep. Lamberth explained that there was an election for county commissioner in that district that resulted in an “exact tie.”

“I cannot tell you if the 15 individuals that voted improperly in our district affected that particular race,” said Rep. Lamberth, “but it is disturbing to know that there were folks that were not allowed to vote that actually voted, and then you have that kind of a really close race.”

Rep. Vincent Dixie (D-Nashville-District 54) asked if someone who is registered in one county after having their rights restored moves to a different county, if they would have to go through another process in order to vote in their new county of residence.

According to Rep. Lamberth, the intent is that this bill will work in tandem with House Bill 45 (HB0045), and that once an individual has their rights restored, wherever they move they can register to vote.

Republican Representatives Rush Bricken, Jeff Burkhart, John Crawford, Rick Eldridge, Dan Howell, Tom Leatherwood, Mary Littleton, Greg Martin, Jake McCalmon, Jerome Moon, Tim Rudd, Todd Warner and Dave Wright voted in favor of the legislation.

So did Democrat Representatives Larry Miller and Bo Mitchell.

The only no votes were Democrat Representatives Vincent Dixie and Gabby Salinas.

HB0069 now moves forward to the House Transportation Committee and has been placed on the schedule for 3/25/25.

HB0069 Summary: As introduced, requires the coordinator of elections, in collaboration with the department of safety and Tennessee bureau of investigation, to create two electronic portals prior to January 1, 2028, for purposes of verifying an applicant’s eligibility to vote based upon United States citizenship and conviction of a felony prior to registering the applicant to vote; requires department of safety to issue lawful permanent residents a temporary driver license, instead of a standard license, to aid in determining voter eligibility for someone who presents a Tennessee driver license as identification.

Rep.dan.howell@capitol.tn.gov, rep.ed.butler@capitol.tn.gov, rep.rebecca.alexander@capitol.tn.gov, rep.fred.atchley@capitol.tn.gov, rep.aftyn.behn@capitol.tn.gov, rep.elaine.davis@capitol.tn.gov, rep.ronnie.glynn@capitol.tn.gov, rep.torrey.harris@capitol.tn.gov, rep.david.hawk@capitol.tn.gov, rep.aron.maberry@capitol.tn.gov, rep.pat.marsh@capitol.tn.gov, rep.jake.mccalmon@capitol.tn.gov, rep.justin.pearson@capitol.tn.gov, rep.michele.reneau@capitol.tn.gov, rep.lowell.russell@capitol.tn.gov, rep.paul.sherrell@capitol.tn.gov, rep.robert.stevens@capitol.tn.gov, rep.chris.todd@capitol.tn.gov, rep.joe.towns@capitol.tn.gov, rep.greg.vital@capitol.tn.gov, rep.dave.wright@capitol.tn.gov 

About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. Adelia is The Tennessee Conservative’s on-site reporter for the Tennessee General Assembly. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.