Citizenship bill stalls in Senate

By Judith R. Tackett
Nashville City Paper
May 20, 2005

A bill designed to clean up the Tennessee election code stalled on the Senate floor Thursday after sponsor Sen. Joe Haynes (D-Goodlettsville) refused to accept an amendment that would have required proof of citizenship for voter registration.

The amendment was proposed by Sen. Mark Norris (R-Collierville), who said he did not understand Haynes’ argument that his amendment would turn the bill into a partisan issue.

The bill was brought to Haynes by the Tennessee Association of County Election Officials (TACEO), Tennessee Election Coordinator Brook Thompson said.

“They are made up of both Democrats and Republicans at the local level,” Thompson said. “They try to bring a bill every year that just makes some technical changes to the election code, things they’ve seen in the past election that [might need] clean up.”

TACEO’s goal was to keep their clean-up proposal non-partisan, Haynes said, adding the Norris attempt would make it a partisan issue.

“For that reason I decided to put the bill back in the calendar [committee] to see if we can work it out,” Haynes said. “I don’t mind letting it lay over until next year because there is no immediate concern about it.”

Haynes said he understood that the law already provided protections needed to ensure that only citizens can register to vote.

Thompson confirmed that Tennesseans have to swear that they are U.S. citizens to register to vote. A lie would result in perjury.

Federal law provides that non-citizens who vote can be deported.

Norris’ amendment would have required citizens to provide “satisfactory evidence of United States citizenship.” Such evidence would include the number of an applicant’s driver license or driver certificate if the license indicates that a person has provided proof of citizenship to the agency that issued the license; a legible photocopy of the applicant’s birth certificate; a copy of a passport or United States naturalization documents.

Norris already sponsored a bill that would have required proof of citizenship, but it was defeated in a House subcommittee.

“The amendment itself is not a partisan issue,” Norris said. “It’s the principle of United States citizenship as a pre-requisite to vote. That’s not partisan. I don’t know of a single member in this chamber who said they don’t think that ought to be a requirement.

“Most people think it already is a requirement, but it’s not spelled out in state law,” Norris said.

Haynes argued that the provision could create a burden for some citizens who want to vote.

“Some of the fears that some of my democratic colleagues and I have are that this will make it difficult for some people to register to vote,” Haynes said. He added he did not believe every person could recall immediately where their birth certificates are.

Republican Caucus Chairman Sen. Jeff Miller urged Haynes, who heads the Senate Democratic Caucus, to bring the bill back on the floor so the Senate could act on the amendment.

“This is a no-brainer,” Miller (R-Cleveland) said. “Only U.S. citizens should vote in our elections.”