Today, Tennessee issued guidance to election officials that short-circuits the longstanding Certificate of Restoration (COR) process and creates a new requirement that all people with past felony convictions must also receive either a court order or gubernatorial clemency to restore their right to vote. In so doing, Tennessee joins only Mississippi and Virginia in imposing permanent felony disenfranchisement on its citizens. 

In response, Blair Bowie, director of Campaign Legal Center’s Restore Your Vote initiative, issued the following statement: 

“Campaign Legal Center strongly condemns the illogical guidance released today by the Tennessee Elections Division which effectively destroys the voting rights restoration process created by the Tennessee legislature.  

Today’s guidance proves what the Elections Division has already shown to be true: Tennessee will use every tool imaginable to unlawfully and unfairly deny its citizens the freedom to vote. The decision flies in the face of the Tennessee legislature’s clear intent to create a voting rights restoration process that did not require going to court or a gubernatorial pardon. This deeply cynical move mirrors the Florida legislature’s 2019 law that undid voting rights restoration passed by the voters of the state.  

The guidance states that individuals who have lost the right to vote because of a felony conviction must both go through Tennessee’s administrative voting rights restoration process (called a Certificate of Restoration) and restore their rights of citizenship through a pardon or court petition. This effectively closes the door to voting rights restoration for over 470,000 Tennesseans. Tennessee has the second largest disenfranchised population in the country, second only to Florida, and disenfranchises over 20% of its Black citizens, the highest rate of Black disenfranchisement in the country. 

The guidance is a beyond-the-pale interpretation of a recent Tennessee Supreme Court decision, Falls v. Goins, which stated that a Tennessean with a Virginia state conviction who had been granted clemency by the Virginia governor also needed to show that he met the criteria for administrative rights restoration in Tennessee, including payment of court costs. The case arose because the Elections Division reversed its earlier position that an individual with an out-of-state conviction was only disenfranchised unless they had restored their citizenship rights in the state of conviction or Tennessee. The Elections Division never once argued during that case that individuals with out-of-state convictions would need to seek both a restoration of citizenship out-of-state AND voting rights restoration in Tennessee.” 

CLC, along with Free Hearts, the Tennessee NAACP, and Baker Donelson, are fighting for a better process on behalf of all Tennesseans who have not been able to restore their voting rights through Tennessee's broken system.  

Tennesseans with felony convictions, including out-of-state convictions, who need help with their voting rights can continue to visit RestoreYourVote.org for free and confidential assistance.  

Washington, DC — Today, Members of Congress in both chambers reintroduced the Freedom to Vote Act, a comprehensive proposal that would increase Americans’ access to the ballot box, neutralize partisan and racial gerrymandering and increase transparency in our campaign finance system to counteract the impact of dark money secret spending. 

Originally introduced in 2021, the Freedom to Vote Act would address many of the most pressing challenges to our electoral process, allowing democracy to work for all Americans and ensuring that all voices are heard. 

“The aims of the Freedom to Vote Act – prohibiting partisan gerrymandering, protecting the freedom to vote and increasing the transparency of money spent in federal elections – are supported by a significant majority of Americans, regardless of party,” said Trevor Potter, president of Campaign Legal Center and a Republican former chairman of the Federal Election Commission. “We encourage legislators to put partisanship aside and come together to ensure that every American voter has an equal voice in our political system, in order to ensure that democracy works for all Americans.” 

An opposing bill, the American Confidence in Elections Act (ACE Act), was recently introduced in the House of Representatives. Despite the misleading name, the ACE Act does not make our elections more secure, transparent and accessible. Rather, the ACE Act erodes access to the ballot box, opens the door for wealthy donors to influence elections, imposes new burdens on nonpartisan election workers, restricts the franchise for voters in Washington, DC and much more.  

The Freedom to Vote Act, in deep contrast, is legislation that comprehensively strengthens our democracy and addresses the most pressing challenges to our electoral process – the true recipe for voter confidence and trust. 

More information on the Freedom to Vote Act is available here. 

Tallahassee, FL — A federal judge has declined to block enforcement of two provisions of a Florida anti-voter law, Senate Bill 7050, challenged by the League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVFL). Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is representing LWVFL in the lawsuit. 

One of the provisions allowed to remain in effect fines nonpartisan civic engagement groups $50,000 every time a volunteer with certain felony convictions helps register a voter. The other requires volunteers to provide a detailed receipt to those who fill out voter registration forms, and each receipt must contain the volunteer’s full name. Both provisions have the potential to severely impact the availability of individuals who register voters in often-overlooked communities. 

In response to the order, CLC and LWVFL issued the following statement:  

“We are disappointed by today’s decision, which will severely curtail the ability of nonpartisan civic engagement groups like LWVFL to engage with and educate voters. In the past, the League has relied on volunteers with felony convictions to assist in engaging other persons with felony convictions to learn about their eligibility to register to vote. This ruling leaves in place the barriers that prevent persons with felony convictions from assisting with voter registration. 

At the end of the day, Florida should celebrate — not punish — the civic-minded people who help voters make their voices heard. Campaign Legal Center and the League of Women Voters of Florida look forward to continuing to fight in court against this disturbing attack on voters.” 

On July 3, the same judge temporarily blocked two different provisions of Senate Bill 7050 challenged by LWVFL, as well as two other sets of plaintiffs, that restrict and penalize the work of nonpartisan civic engagement groups. 

 More information about the lawsuit can be found here.

This morning, Campaign Legal Center (CLC) argued before the Utah Supreme Court in a lawsuit challenging Utah’s gerrymandered congressional voting map and asking the court to reinstate Prop 4, a citizen-led initiative that prohibited partisan gerrymandering.  

CLC represents the League of Women Voters of Utah (LWV Utah), Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) and a bipartisan group of individual voters in the lawsuit. Mark Gaber, senior director of redistricting at CLC, presented oral arguments on behalf of the plaintiffs.  

CLC, LWV Utah and MWEG issued the following joint statement after oral arguments concluded: 

“Voters should be the ones to choose their politicians, not the other way around. Instead of following this basic democratic principle, the Utah legislature gerrymandered their congressional voting map to lock in power and blatantly ignored the will of Utah’s voters in the process.  

The Utah constitution makes it very clear that voters have a right to reform their government. We urge the Utah Supreme Court to affirm Utahns' constitutional rights so every vote counts equally and every voice is heard."  

More information about the lawsuit can be found here. 

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