WMC News in Memphis, Tennessee is reporting on a new voting restriction which allegedly makes it “more difficult for some Tennesseans to cast their ballots” because it requires convicted felons who want to vote must first have their Second Amendment rights restored.
The head of a Washington, D.C.-based “voter advocacy” group claims the law is “pure voter suppression.”
But some gun rights activists have contended that restoration of rights must include the right to keep and bear arms.
The Campaign Legal Center (CLS) has filed a federal lawsuit against several officials including Republican Gov. Bill Lee and Secretary of State Tre Hargett. The lawsuit was filed in U.S District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division. In their complaint, the plaintiffs contend “This case challenges the state of Tennessee’s unequal, inaccessible, opaque, and error-ridden implementation of the statutes granting restoration of voting rights to citizens who lost the right to vote because of a felony conviction.”
According to WMC, Blair Bowie, director of Restore Your Vote at CLS, says the law is unfair because people who served time in prison may have been out “for decades” but still cannot cast a vote.
A State Supreme Court ruling in Ernest Falls, et.al. v. Mark Goins, et.al. last year.
The WMC report noted now in Tennessee “nearly 10% of the voting population is excluded from the polls because of felony convictions, a rate second only to Mississippi, and one that especially affects people of color.”
It is a ticklish dilemma, and one lawmaker, Republican State Rep. William Lamberth, is quoted by WMC observing, “My advice is don’t commit a felony. If you’ve been convicted of a felony, it’s going to take a little bit of work to reenter society fully. We’ve made a pathway for that. But the best way to not have to deal with that issue is don’t commit the felony to begin with.”
