Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett stated that state Democrat lawmakers are trying to “weaponize” the United States Department of Justice against the state.
“Tennesseans should not be surprised that some want to weaponize the Department of Justice against the state ranked number one in election integrity,” Hargett said in the statement obtained by The Tennessee Star on Friday.
Hargett (pictured above) was responding to a Thursday letter from Tennessee Democrat state senators and representatives to the DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. In the letter, Tennessee Democrats urged the DOJ to launch an investigation into recent voter registration policy changes that make it harder for convicted felons to regain their ability to vote in the state legally.
The letter’s signatories wrote that Tennessee is at a “crisis point” and that current policy is rooted in “intentional discrimination and racism.”
In the summer of 2023, Tennessee Elections Coordinator Mark Goins, who works for Hargett, sent a message to local election officials informing them of new requirements for felons to regain their ability to vote, The Associated Press reported at the time. The new requirements were implemented to comply with a June court ruling, the outlet added.
Regaining one’s voting rights in Tennessee after a felony conviction currently requires following two steps, according to the Tennessee Secretary of State’s website. First, a person must receive a pardon or have their full rights of citizenship restored by petition to the circuit court. Secondly, he must “meet requirements related to paying restitution and court costs, if any, and be current on any child support obligations, if any.”
Additionally, Goins told AP in January 2024 that felons would also need to restore their gun rights to vote in Tennessee. “Under the Tennessee Constitution, the right to bear arms is a right of citizenship,” he said.
The 22 Democratic state legislators that signed the recent letter to the DOJ argue that these requirements are not legal, that Goins exercised powers he does not have, and that Hargett is obstructing voting rights. The letter signatories wrote that Tennessee’s current voting policy violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the National Voters Registration Act of 1993, and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.
“Overall, I’m not in favor of felons voting,” Senate Speaker and Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally reportedly told the AP earlier in January. “I think they’ve committed a serious crime, serious offense against the state… And until they’re out of jail and either been pardoned or exonerated for what they did, then they forfeit that right.”
According to data from the American Civil Liberties Union, Tennessee is one of 10 states in the country that does not allow some people convicted of a felony to retain their voting rights.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative public policy organization, currently ranks Tennessee number one in the nation on its “election integrity scorecard,” earning a grade of 90/100.
Below is a list of those who signed the letter to the DOJ:
– State Representative Caleb Hemmer (D-Nashville)
– State Senator Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville)
– State Senator Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville)
– State RepresentativeSam McKenzie (D-Knoxville)
– State Representative Vincent Dixie (D-Nashville)
– State Representative Bob Freeman (D-Nashville)
– State Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville)
– State Representative Justin J. Pearson (D-Memphis)
– State Representative Aftyn Behn (D-Nashville)
– State Representative Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville)
– State Representative Yusuf Hakeem (D-Chattanooga)
– State Representative Torrey Harris (D-Memphis)
– State Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville)
– State Representative John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville)
– State Representative Jason Powell (D-Nashville)
– State Senator Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis)
– State Representative Johnny Shaw (D-Bolivar)
– State Representative Larry Miller (D-Memphis)
– State Senator London Lamar (D-Memphis)
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Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on Twitter/X.
Photo “Tre Hargett” by Tennessee Secretary of State. Background Photo “DOJ Building” by Ken Lund. CC BY-SA 2.0.
If your right to vote can be denied in addition to the penalty prescribed by law,
Then where is the “Protection by Law” of all the other rights, A trial by jury can be denied by a simple conviction of “J-Walking”??
“WITHOUT ENUMERATED POWER” neither State or Federal Government has authority to “EXCLUDE” any person from their “RIGHTS” as a penalty of law.
Any law that does is a “Violation of the Constitution”.
Too many of these “ignorance Politicians” want to legislate these “FEEL GOOD LAWS” that does more to destroy our Constitution/Country/Rights/Freedoms than improve it.
“IF in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, (though it) may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.
G.Washington’s Farewell Address.
That list of names is a who’s who of what is wrong with this country.
Trying? Trying? They are full-blown NAZIS.