Tennessee § 40-29-202 - Application for voter registration card.

§ 40-29-202. Application for voter registration card.

A person rendered infamous and deprived of the right of suffrage by the judgment of any state or federal court is eligible to apply for a voter registration card and have the right of suffrage restored upon: Receiving a pardon, except where the pardon contains special conditions pertaining to the right of suffrage; The discharge from custody by reason of service or expiration of the maximum sentence imposed by the court for the infamous crime; or Being granted a certificate of final discharge from supervision by the board of parole pursuant to § 40-28-105, or any equivalent discharge by another state, the federal government, or county correction authority. Notwithstanding subsection (a), a person shall not be eligible to apply for a voter registration card and have the right of suffrage restored, unless the person: Has paid all restitution to the victim or victims of the offense ordered by the court as part of the sentence; and Beginning September 1, 2010, notwithstanding subsection (a), a person shall not be eligible to apply for a voter registration card and have the right of suffrage restored, unless the person has paid all court costs assessed against the person at the conclusion of the person's trial, except where the court has made a finding at an evidentiary hearing that the applicant is indigent at the time of application. Notwithstanding subsection (a), a person shall not be eligible to apply for a voter registration card and have the right of suffrage restored, unless the person is current in all child support obligations. Acts 2006, ch. 860, § 1; 2010, ch. 1115, § 1. Compiler's Notes. Acts 2012, ch. 727, § 1 amended § 4-3-104 , which concerns name changes of departments and divisions, to provide that references to the board of probation and parole, formerly referred to in this section, are deemed references to the board of parole. Law Reviews. Reawakening “Privileges or Immunities”: An Originalist Blueprint for Invalidating State Felon Disenfranchisement Laws (John Benjamin Schrader), 62 Vand. L. Rev. 1285 (2009). Wealth-Based Penal Disenfranchisement, 72 Vand. L. Rev. 55 (January 2019). Attorney General Opinions. The exception which excludes from eligibility those convicted felons who are not current in their child support obligations does not violate the equal protection clause of the United States or Tennessee constitutions, OAG 06-148 (9/29/06). Constitutionality of 2010 amendment to T.C.A. § 40-29-202(b) . OAG 10-74, 2010 Tenn. AG LEXIS 80 (5/24/10); OAG 10-75, 2010 Tenn. AG LEXIS 81 (5/27/10). Based on existing precedent from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the legislature may require, as a condition of the restoration of the voting rights of a convicted felon, that the convicted felon enter into a payment plan for satisfying existing financial obligations, such as restitution, child support, and court costs. The principles on which that precedent rests suggest that the legislature may restore convicted felons’ voting rights only provisionally, subject to subsequent revocation for failure to pay in accordance with the payment plan. An argument can be made that subsequent revocation for failure to pay need not take indigency into account in order to pass constitutional muster, but no court has directly addressed that question. Nor has a court squarely addressed what procedural protections would be required for a subsequent revocation for failure to abide by the terms of a payment plan. Because those questions remain unsolved, a statutory scheme that (1) explicitly makes the restoration of voting rights provisional and conditional on adherence to the terms of the payment plan, (2) accounts for indigency, and (3) allows convicted felons facing subsequent revocation of restored voting rights for failure to abide by the payment plan to prove their indigency and good faith to a neutral court would be on firmer constitutional footing than a statute that did not include those provisions. OAG 20-02, 2020 Tenn. AG LEXIS 2 (2/25/2020). All convicted felons, including individuals convicted in other States or in federal court, must satisfy outstanding debts arising from court costs, court-ordered restitution, and child support obligations before they are eligible to apply for the reinstatement of their voting rights. OAG 20-06, 2020 Tenn. AG LEXIS 6 (3/26/2020).