Dems demand answers after Tennessee officials send 14k letters warning against illegal voting

Voters head to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Memphis, Tenn. (Photo By Karen Pulfer Focht/ Tennessee Lookout)

Tennessee’s top Democrat in the state House wants the secretary of state to explain why more than 14,000 people received a letter warning them they might not be able to vote in the upcoming election.

House Minority Leader Karen Camper, a Memphis Democrat, wrote to Secretary of State Tre Hargett, asking him to explain how his office identified who should receive the election letters and what the state plans to do with the information.

“I am concerned about the necessity and timing of this additional verification measure,” Camper said in the letter sent Monday.

The election letters, signed by Tennessee Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins, were sent out in early June. They warned recipients that when they received their driver’s licenses, they might not have been U.S. citizens and therefore are not allowed to vote.

The letter points out that illegal voting is a felony, punishable by two years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. It offers U.S. citizens a prepaid mailing option to submit proof of their citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate.

Nashville Democrats Reps. John Ray Clemmons and Jason Powell joined Camper in expressing outrage over the letters. They requested an investigation by the state attorney general into whether Goins’ letter constituted a voter intimidation tactic.

“On its face, this letter is an egregious and unlawful act by a state official targeting a certain population of citizens who are lawful voters, with the clear intent to intimidate them,” Clemmons said in a statement.

The Lookout reached out to a spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office on Tuesday morning and had not received a response to its question by the time of publication.

Goins’ election letter

Camper’s letter

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