NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — There's a back and forth in the fight that could restore voting rights to thousands of people in Tennessee. The Attorney General has moved to shut down the NAACP's voting rights lawsuit.
In December 2020 the Tennessee Conference of the NAACP and some people who were denied the right to vote alleged that Tennessee officials failed to follow state law that allows people to legally restore their voting rights after serving their sentences and completing parole.
They even argued the state added more requirements that made it harder to restore those rights. It was thought that the lawsuit would be settled over the summer of this year, but that wasn't the case. Attorneys broke off talks in July.
Now, the Attorney General’s Office filed motions asking a judge to reject the claims entirely. The attorney general didn’t explain why.
According to the Sentencing Project: one in five Black voting-age person in Tennessee lacks the right to vote due to a past criminal conviction, which is likely the highest rate of African American disenfranchisement in the nation. Overall, nearly 10% of the Tennessee electorate, which is about 470,000 people, have lost their right to vote due to convictions. Since 2016 almost 3,500 people have been granted restoration in the state.
State filings say TN has a process in place to fight voter fraud and safeguarding voter confidence. The NAACP hoped this would be settled in time for the presidential election.
