ACLU Challenges Tennessee’s Absentee-Ballot Restrictions

(CN) — It’s difficult for some voters to get an absentee ballot in Tennessee, and that violates the state constitution and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that Americans cast votes by mail, the American Civil Liberties Union argued in a lawsuit filed Friday.

“Defendants, however, have chosen to ignore these recommendations, allowing only voters who meet a certain narrow set of criteria to ‘vote absentee by mail’ … A voter who does not fall within one of the specifically enumerated categories has to vote in person or not vote at all,” the 31-page complaint states.

The ACLU is the latest civil rights organization to challenge Tennessee’s rules over which voters can obtain an absentee ballot ahead of state-wide elections scheduled for Aug. 6 and Nov. 3.

Currently, Tennessee voters need to meet one of 14 conditions — which includes reasons such as the voter is over 60, out of the county or in the military — to qualify for an absentee ballot. Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins told the Associated Press Tuesday that fear of getting Covid-19 is not a reason voters can use to vote by mail.

In the suit filed in Davidson County Chancery Court, the ACLU represents three individuals concerned about contracting Covid-19, including an immunocompromised couple.

Plaintiff Ben Lay said he should not have to choose between his health and his vote.

“I am a disabled, two-time cancer survivor and my wife takes medication for a chronic condition that leaves her immunocompromised. The only way we can vote safely right now is through a mail-in ballot, but under current state law, we don’t qualify,” Lay said.

Besides Goins, Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Governor Bill Lee was named as defendants.

The suit asks the judge to declare the requirement that Tennesseans qualify for an absentee ballot during the Covid-19 pandemic violates the state constitution.

“The Excuse Requirement, as currently construed and enforced, will likely prevent tens of thousands of eligible voters from casting ballots, with particularly heavy burdens on African-American voters. Under these circumstances, the Excuse Requirement, as currently construed and enforced, will thus deny the fundamental right to vote guaranteed by the Tennessee Constitution,” the complaint states.

Julia Bruck, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Office of Secretary of State, said it had no comment because the office was not yet served with the complaint.

But the state’s Covid-19 election contingency plan dated April 23 says preparing for the increase of absentee ballots will be an “extreme challenge” because in a typical election, less than 2.5% of voters vote by mail. Tennessee is planning as if every voter over 60 – 1.4 million, or more than 30% of registered voters – will seek an absentee ballot.

“Admittedly, we are in a worse position than most states for an increase in absentee by-mail ballots because we are on the extreme lower end of people voting by-mail,” the plan said. “Local election commissions are being asked to cut their budgets at a time when the election is going to cost substantially more.”

The state plans to use federal funding from the CARES Act to ramp up usage of absentee ballots.

The ACLU’s lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s absentee ballot law joins another state-level lawsuit and a federal lawsuit that argues organizations should not be criminally prohibited from assisting voters voting by mail for the first time in obtaining ballots.

Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said while some other states have restrictions on who can get absentee ballots, they have dropped the restrictions during the pandemic.

According to the suit, seven states opened up the ability for their residents to vote by mail in the time of Covid-19: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, Arkansas and Alabama.

“Tennessee is really an outlier at this point. You got six states that aren't letting everyone vote by mail. … It just doesn't make sense to force people to congregate at crowded polling locations in person on Election Day,” Ho said.

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