Civil rights advisory committee recommends Tennessee expand absentee voting access – By Melissa Brown (Nashville Tennessean) / Nov 17, 2022
The Tennessee Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights recommended this week that Tennessee expand access to absentee voting amid apparent “deficiencies” found in an ongoing study of the state’s voting laws and barriers to the ballot box.
The committee issued an interim memo with the guidance, which the commission can now choose to send to the Tennessee General Assembly and Gov. Bill Lee as a formal request.
The memo arose during an ongoing study into the impact of voting restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic and the civil rights impact of SB008, a controversial bill passed in 2020 that criminalized some protests in the state.
“Through the testimony presented to the Committee, we have gained a better understanding of the varying obstacles that many Tennesseans face to fulfill their right to vote,” committee chair Shaka Mitchell said in a statement. “These barriers became even more pronounced and confusing with the changes in procedures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Committee’s goal is to develop final, actionable recommendations to the Commission that will take these lessons learned into account and improve these processes for future elections.”
