Tennessee Lawsuit Seeking Voting Privilege Reinstatement For Former Convicted Felons Leads To Stronger Voter Integrity

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The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] –

Back in 2020, the NAACP initiated a lawsuit on behalf of five individuals they alleged were being disenfranchised by the state of Tennessee when they were denied the opportunity to reinstate their voting privileges, after those privileges had been revoked due to felony convictions.  All the individuals named in the suit had been sentenced and served prison terms and had completed their parole. 

Three years later, the recent ruling in a lawsuit filed by a man who had been convicted of a crime in Virginia but was seeking to become a registered voter in Tennessee, has led to changes in the process imposed by the state. These changes provide greater clarity, and some would say voter integrity, to the process for regaining voting privileges after felony convictions.

The lawsuit, Falls v Goins, which was settled in June of 2023, held that while Mr. Falls had completed his sentence for a crime he had committed in Virginia in 1986, and had subsequently had his citizenship restored by the governor of that state, when he moved to Tennessee in 2018, he would not be able to become a registered voter. That is, unless he was able to prove he had also paid any restitution, court costs, and satisfied any outstanding child support, if there was any.  

These additional criteria are codified in Tennessee state law. When Mr. Falls moved to Tennessee, he became subject to those laws, the same as any other resident of the state.  The expanded criteria are found in a separate statute, but one that essentially addresses the same issue. Legal doctrine requires that when there are two separate statutes that similarly address the same legal issue, that both are equally considered and applied. 

It is this ruling that led AG Jonathan Skrmetti’s office to give direction to State Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins, who then issued a memo on the expanded criteria, shutting down the legal battle that been waged with the NAACP for nearly three years. 

Goins’ memo informs all county elections commissions of the changes that will be implemented in the process and what that will look like moving forward. 

Because of the recent precedent set in Falls v Goins, assertions of disenfranchisement by the NAACP are rendered moot, because those who are claiming disenfranchisement in the suit, are simply just short of completing the requirements that have now become settled case law. 

Recent reports indicate that one in every five black voting age Tennesseans does not have the right to vote due to a past criminal conviction. The report states that nearly 470,000 people in the state have lost their right to vote.

While the NAACP cries foul, the plaintiffs in their case who now lack standing in a court of law, have lost the leverage they were attempting to use to try and get the state to alter their process for convicted felons to become reinstated, legal voters in the state of Tennessee. 

It shouldn’t escape notice or consideration how 470,000 new names on the state’s voter rolls would have affected the outcomes of all the important elections coming in the next year. 

About the Author: Kelly Jackson is a recent escapee from corporate America, and a California refugee to Tennessee. Christ follower, Wife and Mom of three amazing teenagers. She has a BA in Comm from Point Loma Nazarene University, and has a background in law enforcement and human resources. Since the summer of 2020, she has spent any and all free time in the trenches with local grassroots orgs, including Mom’s for Liberty Williamson County and Tennessee Stands as a core member.  Outspoken advocate for parents rights, medical freedom, and individual liberty. Kelly can be reached at kelly@tennesseeconservativenews.com.