New bill would tighten access to absentee voting in Tennessee

Update: The Tennessee Senate passed the bill Monday, Feb. 12 on a party line vote. 

The Tennessee General Assembly is poised to tighten the state’s absentee voting process. Right now, voters can request an absentee ballot seven days before an election, but Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, wants to change the cutoff date to 10 days before.

Tennessee is already one of the most difficult states to vote in, and Democrats say that this change in the law will make it even harder.

Briggs, on the other hand, thinks that the change in the law would actually help ensure that every vote is counted.

In Knoxville’s last mayoral election, Briggs said many absentee votes went uncounted because they didn’t make it to the election commission in time. 

“I think there were 32 or 33 requests that came in on day seven. Only two got back in time to vote,” Briggs said during a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday.

By tightening the absentee ballot deadline, Briggs added, it would leave more time for the postal service to deliver ballots to the commission by election day.

Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, thinks the change Briggs is proposing would unnecessarily restrict voters’ access to the ballot box.

“I think we’re one of the only states that doesn’t allow in-person drop off at the election commission,” said Yarbro. “Wouldn’t that eliminate the same problem and allow us to keep the seven day timeline?”

Briggs said there are already ways to vote in person ahead of election day — like early voting — so there shouldn’t be a need to drop off absentee ballots.

A broader trend

The move to tighten access to voting is an ongoing theme across the country. Jasleen Singh with the Brennan Center says it’s been a consistent movement since the last presidential election.

Since the 2020 election, there has been “a lot of movement towards restricting the right to vote in several states,” Singh told WPLN News.

Singh said that this absentee voting change in an election year could cause confusion and make it harder for voters to participate in democracy. Others have the same worry.

“There is not education, there is not notice to the public. And once again they have an issue that they have to face that they aren’t advised of through any means that I know of besides a piece of paper probably stuck on a wall at a voting place,” said Sen. Sara Kyle, D-Memphis, during the committee hearing.

The bill is scheduled to be heard by the full Senate Monday, while the House version is headed to its first committee stop Wednesday.