Staff Reports
Tennessee’s top election office has launched a much-needed crackdown on voter integrity, sending letters to over 14,000 registered voters to verify their citizenship. Predictably, the usual suspects—the left-wing voting rights advocates—are clutching their pearls, claiming it’s all a nefarious tactic of intimidation.
The June 13 letters remind recipients that noncitizen voting is illegal in Tennessee. They also include instructions on how to update their voter information. This logical step was taken after voter rolls were cross-referenced with state Department of Safety and Homeland Security data. Doug Kufner, the spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office, explained that some individuals may have initially registered interactions with the department as noncitizens but have since gained citizenship and not updated their records.
Tennessee election officials ask more than 14,000 registered voters to prove citizenshiphttps://t.co/MqfYiIMGvd pic.twitter.com/to40iGOIyd
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) June 26, 2024
Election integrity is paramount, and ensuring that only eligible citizens vote is critical to maintaining fair elections. As Kufner rightly put it, accurate voter rolls are essential. These letters are simply a step to prevent election fraud and protect the democratic process that Democrats claim to cherish.
Hypocritically, the Democrats are up in arms. State Rep. Jason Powell called it an “affront to democracy,” which is laughable given that demanding basic documentation is standard practice in any number of governmental processes. If you need proof of citizenship to get a passport, why should it be any different for the sacred act of voting? Sure, the letters warn that illegal voting is a felony with penalties as severe as two years in prison, but isn’t that just stating an obvious and necessary deterrent?
The Dems are now invoking the ghost of Jim Crow, a tired and overused tactic meant to scare people into compliance without question. Democrats like Powell and Rep. Gloria Johnson are making a fuss, saying law-abiding citizens shouldn’t have to prove their voter eligibility. Maybe the real question should be why these citizens haven’t updated their information if they’ve changed their status.
Adding fuel to their melodrama, Democratic leaders are encouraging those who received the letters to reach out to the American Civil Liberties Union for legal help, as though straightforward confirmation of citizenship is tantamount to oppression.
This situation mirrors Texas’s efforts to maintain voter integrity in 2021, where similar letters led to an outcry but ultimately served the purpose of maintaining clean voter rolls. The left can screech all they want, but if you can’t be bothered to update your records or prove your eligibility, maybe rethinking the importance of civic duties is in order.
