A Tennessee bill requiring voter applicants to prove their citizenship status was scheduled to be heard today in the House State & Local Government Committee.
The bill, HB 270 is sponsored by Representative Eric Watson, who “wants to find a way for the state election officials to match registered voters’ names against citizenship proof – like Social Security numbers,” according to Nashville Public Radio, WPLN News today. “He says county election officials in his district complain about increasing numbers of voters who raise the officials’ suspicions.”
“They don’t have driver’s licenses, for one…they’re brought in with an interpreter, and you know, it just pops up red flags, it just pops up a lot of red flags,” said Watson, who “says he’s not trying to target specific ethnic minorities.”
“The General Assembly has treated such bills as partisan issues in the past,” according to the WPLN report. “Republicans pushed for tighter controls, while Democrats argued that such measures tend to disenfranchise people who may not have proper ID, like the poor and elderly.”
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