Tennessee's voting rights restoration process for felons needs to be fixed, lawsuit claims

“Our most fundamental right as Americans is the right to vote, but for far too many people, that right is being denied because of a process that is freezing out communities that have long struggled for equal access,” said Blair Bowie, Legal Counsel & Restore Your Vote Manager at Campaign Legal Center, in the release. Named in the suit are Gov. Bill Lee, Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Tony Parker, Secretary of State Tre Hargett, Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins and Rutherford County Circuit Court Clerk Melissa Harrell. "There are certainly improvements at the legislature could make, but the system as they wrote it just doesn't exist in reality. And that's the responsibility of these statewide officials," Bowie said in an interview with The Tennessean.

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