Breaking news:East Tennessee Republican weighs voter rights restoration bill..
Breaking news:East Tennessee Republican weighs voter rights restoration bill
The chairman of the House Criminal Justice Committee is looking at legislation that could streamline the process for voter rights restoration, making it easier for felons who’ve served their time to go to the ballot box.
Republican state Rep. Bud Hulsey of Bristol told the Tennessee Lookout he started holding meetings last week on a measure to simplify the process, a move that could help nearly half a million Tennesseans, 200,000 of whom are Black residents, to regain their voting rights.
“It’s been patchwork for so long that it’s a mess for a judge to try to interpret what is the right decision,” Hulsey said.
Hulsey noted at least five bills designed to improve the system for voter rights restoration came before his committee last session, leading him to ask his legal assistant to start formulating legislation “that will clean all that mess up” and come up with a “reasonable, lawful way for somebody to get their voting rights back.”
Hulsey agreed that it is difficult to regain voting rights in Tennessee and blamed disparate laws placed in state code at different times.
Gov. Bill Lee offered mild support this week for an effort to ease the process in light of a New York Times video commentary critical of Tennessee’s voter rights restoration requirements.
