If you’re a registered voter in Tennessee, you know that you need an ID when you get to the poll to vote in the 2012 election. Yes, you should have your voter registration card — if you can find it. Your name, address and signature will be checked and now, for the first time, your face will also be compared to your government-issued photo on a driver’s license (current or expired, from Tennessee or out-of-state), on a Federal or State employee ID, U.S. Military ID or gun permit ID. Forget the photo on a student ID; that’s excluded.
Voter Photo ID is Now State Law
Tennessee joins an ever-growing number of states requiring photo IDs: Mississippi, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Wisconsin, South Carolina and Texas. Rhode Island, the only one of the states that isn’t Republican-run, also adopted voter photo IDs as of 2014.
In Tennessee, Senator Bill Ketron sponsored the bill and Republican Governor Bill Haslam signed the measure into law in 2011. Tennessee voters who do not have a photo ID are allowed provisional ballots but in the state’s strict version of the mandate, unless they return within 48 hours with an accepted photo ID, the vote is not counted.
Exceptions to the Law
The photos IDs are required strictly for anyone voting at polling places. If you cast an absentee ballot, which you can do if you’re over age 65 or living in a licensed nursing home, you will not need the government-issued photo ID. The Tennessee Department of Safety estimates over 125,000 drivers age 60 plus who are registered voters use non-photo licenses.
Fraud Prevention or Politics?
The stated objective is to prevent voter fraud although those in opposition decry the law as unfairly targeting minorities and the low-income population. The fact that university students tend to be more liberal than conservative and cannot use their student ID is also a red flag for Democrats that this is a politically motivated move by Republicans.
No Fee to Get a Photo
The Department of Safety and Homeland Security is offering photo IDs at Tennessee Driver Service Centers through March 2012. According to the Tennessee Government website, 48 of these centers in fifteen counties (except the Murfreesboro Road location in Davidson County) will be open the first Saturday of each month strictly for voter photo IDs. You can opt to convert a non-photo driver’s license to a photo version. If you have a group, you can even make an advance appointment.
But any applicant will require other forms of identification, specifically a birth certificate or other proof of citizenship, and two proofs of residency. Acceptable documents for residency include a utility bill, your car’s registration or a bank statement. You will also have to sign an affidavit that you do not have a valid voter photo ID.
Sources:
http://www.tn.gov/safety/photoids.shtml
http://www.ncsl.org/Default.aspx?TabId=16602
http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/tennesseans-need-photo-id-vote-which-could-minimize-fraud-or-
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/11/02/358525/student-ids-unacceptable-as-voter-identification-under-new-tennessee-law/