When Amanda Hopkins first began the process to regain her right to vote, she thought it would be as simple as turning in a form and getting a court’s sign off.
“That was definitely not what it turned out to be,” Hopkins said. “It’s been numerous court dates, numerous appeals, and it just (seems) like it’s designed for failure.”
Hopkins is one of nearly 400,000 Tennesseans who can’t vote because of a felony conviction. The state has the highest percentage of disenfranchised voters in the country, with nearly 7.7% of the eligible voting population unable to cast a ballot, according to the Sentencing Project. The same data shows that Tennessee also has the highest rate of disenfranchised Black voters.
A relatively new rule requires people to restore their right to own a gun in order to restore their right to vote. Since most felonies come with a life-long ban on owning a gun, the rule keeps people from voting who otherwise would’ve been able to restore their rights, like Hopkins.
“Why fight so hard against someone who is trying to do the right thing?” Hopkins said. “Why fight so hard to keep me out of a voting poll?”
Hopkins had fulfilled all the requirements, and a Nashville judge restored her voting rights, but right before the voter registration deadline, Tennessee’s Attorney General’s Office appealed the order, citing the gun ownership rule.
“Even though I had numerous certificates and paperwork showing every accomplishment that I’ve made, showing that I’m a productive citizen, showing all the outreach stuff that I do, I still got an appeal,” Hopkins said. “Sometimes you just feel like no matter how much you do, how much you change, it’s always going to be about what you did before.”
With Election Day nearly one week away, Hopkins is still waiting on a final decision. In response to the state’s appeal, Judge Angelita Dalton will release another order to determine if Hopkins and three other disenfranchised voters can cast a ballot this election. The order could pave the way for more people to restore their voting rights, even if they can no longer own a gun.
The state attorney general’s office did not respond to requests for comment, and the election commission referred to the AG’s office. During a Friday hearing, state attorneys urged the judge to reverse her decision.
“The restoration order does not restore petitioner’s firearms rights, thus it does not restore power to the full rights of citizenship,” said state attorney Zachary Barker before the court on Friday. “And we know that because the right to possess a firearm is a right of citizenship.”
The state cited State v. Johnson, a Tennessee State Supreme Court case which determined that a person who regains their full citizenship rights doesn’t necessarily regain the right to own a firearm. Judge Dalton had also cited the case in her order granting the petitioners full citizenship rights.
“This Court finds that Hopkins’ permanent prohibition on possessing firearms does not render her ineligible from having her full rights of citizenship restored,” the order said. “While the Court acknowledges that Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1307(b)(1)(B) requires that the lifetime firearms prohibition remain in place, the Court also understands that the Tennessee Supreme Court’s holding in State v. Johnson does not require that Hopkins’ gun rights be restored before she may have her full rights of citizenship restored.”
Attorney Keeda Haynes, who represents Hopkins and the other three petitioners, told WPLN News that if the judge’s final order does not come soon, the election commission has approved using provisional ballots.
That’s not an ideal situation for her clients, Haynes said.
“They could always come back and say that they were not technically on the voter rolls, and there’s a possibility that they could be charged because they voted,” Haynes said. “Who wants to take that chance of possibly being prosecuted for voting?”
Hopkins said that regardless of the final ruling, to her, the judge has already recognized all the work she’s done for her community.
“I’m not going to be upset. I’m not going to be mad,” she said. “What that’s going to do is give me the courage to keep pushing, to try and take another avenue and try to continue to fight for my restoration rights.”
At 45 years old, Hopkins has never voted. She said that she wasn’t civically engaged when she had the right to vote. Since completing her sentence and overcoming addiction, she’s become more involved in her community.
“I’ve never been in a voting booth. So, you know, it’s kind of something personal to me … It would mean a lot to me personally because I am very community-oriented, and I love to be a part of something,” Hopkins said. “I’ve been encouraging my daughter to get out and vote. When I go places, I encourage people, if they don’t have registration, if they’ve never voted, I always encourage them to start paying attention.”
Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect the name of the state supreme court case, State v. Johnson.
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