Tennessee Disenfranchises 21% of Black Voting Population: Analysis
Over the past two decades, while states around the country have done the opposite, Tennessee has made it more difficult for residents convicted of felonies to get their right to vote back, according to an analysis by The Sentencing Project.
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A new analysis by The Sentencing Project has found that Tennessee disenfranchises 21 percent of its Black residents and just over 8 percent of its Latino population, in both cases more than any other state, reports Bianca Fortis for ProPublica. Over the past two decades, while states around the country have done the opposite, Tennessee has made it more difficult for residents convicted of felonies to get their right to vote back. Lawmakers have even added requirements that residents first pay any court costs and restitution and that they be current on child support, making them the only state in the country to do so.
Overall, about 470,000 residents of Tennessee are barred from voting. Roughly 80 percent have already completed their sentence but are disenfranchised because they have a permanently disqualifying conviction — such as murder or rape — or because they owe court costs or child support or have gotten lost in the system trying to get their vote back. Over the past two years, about 2,000 Tennesseans have successfully appealed to have their voting rights restored. “Maybe Tennessee is doing it correctly and the others are not,” said Republican Cameron Sexton, speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives.
