Two new Tennessee laws that help check voter eligibility will take effect at the beginning of 2026.
During the Tennessee General Assembly this year, the State Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 69 and HB 1283. Governor Bill Lee signed these bills into law in May.
HB 69 requires Tennessee election coordinators to work with the state Department of Safety to establish an electronic portal where county administrators can verify a person’s voting eligibility. This new system will help the state prevent noncitizens or felons from voting in elections. The system needs to be created by January 1, 2028.
State Representative William Lamberth (R-Portland) introduced this bill during the legislative session.
HB 1283 mandates that Tennessee election coordinators undergo training to recognize temporary IDs issued to noncitizens to ensure they don’t vote.
State Representative Timothy Hill (R-Blountville) brought forth this piece of legislation.
These two new laws will help secure Tennessee’s elections and further secure the state as having some of America’s strictest voting laws.
For the fourth year in a row, the Heritage Foundation’s Election Integrity Scorecard ranked the Volunteer State as having the country’s best election laws. Tennessee is tied with Arkansas with a score of 91.
According to the scorecard, Tennessee can improve its election procedures law by allowing the State Legislature to legally sue to ensure election laws are being followed. Also, Tennessee could allow the State Legislature to approve changes to election laws made by court decisions, as well as allow residents to sue election officials who don’t follow election laws.
The foundation says the Election Integrity Scorecard “compares the election laws and regulations of each state that affect the security and integrity of the process to the foundation’s best-practices recommendations.”
In reaction to the ranking, Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett thanked General Assembly members, election county administrators and commissions who helped provide “secure and transparent elections for Tennesseans.”
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at zschmidt1717@gmail.com.
Photo “People Voting” by Lorie Shaull. CC BY 2.0.
