Student Voting Guide | Tennessee
Registration
http://state.tn.us/sos/election/ (registration form available online)
The voter registration deadline is thirty days before the election.[1] If you plan to vote absentee, you need to register in person at a county or state office; if you register by mail (including through a voter registration drive), you will not be able to vote absentee.[2] If you want to vote absentee your first time, consider registering in person in the summer before you go away to school and then updating your address once you get to school in the fall.
You may register to vote if you will be 18 by the next election.
Residency
In Tennessee, your residence is your “fixed” habitation, the place where you definitely intend to return after being away.[3] “Residence” equals domicile under Tennessee law,[4] and a person can have only one residence.[5]
Tennessee courts have indicated that domicile and residence for voting requires intent to make a place your “permanent” home.[6] In response to questions about students’ eligibility to vote in Tennessee if they have uncertain plans after graduation, the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office stated that students who plan to leave their school communities after graduation, as well as those who do not know whether they will stay or leave their school communities, are unable to establish voting residency in Tennessee.[7]
Election administrators may consider the following when determining residency: the location of any land owned by a person; the location of a person’s work; the place where a person pays taxes; a person’s driver license address; and why a person is located in a particular place.[8] However, election officials may not reject a voter’s registration based solely on the type of place they live: a person can be or become a Tennessee resident while living in any type of dwelling, including a dormitory.[9] Some local county registrars may generally allow students to elect to register and vote in their college communities.[10]
At School. Students attending school in Tennessee should be able to register and vote at their school address if they intend to make that place their residence and there is some objective indication of their intent.[11]
At Home. Students who lived in Tennessee before moving elsewhere to attend school, and who wish to establish or keep their Tennessee voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ Tennessee address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, Tennessee allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the district to attend school, and the only way you will lose this residency is by establishing residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of your Tennessee residency, some judges or officials might view it as such.
Effect on Driver’s Licenses. If you drive in Tennessee, you should be aware that registering to vote in the state automatically classifies you as a resident for the purposes of the driver’s license laws.[12] New Tennessee residents are required to get a license within 30 days of becoming a resident.[13]
Challenges to Residency. If the county official in charge of voter registration rejects your registration application because they believe you are not a genuine resident, they have to give you notice and inform you of your right to appeal to the county commission of elections within ten days.[14] You also have a right to have a court review your case.[15]
Your eligibility to vote based on residency can also be challenged at the polls by another voter or by poll watchers, who can be appointed both by political parties, and by other groups that are interested in the “purity of elections.” [16] If your eligibility is challenged, you will have to swear an oath and answer the poll workers’ questions.[17] Unless they unanimously agree you are not eligible, you will be allowed to vote normally.[18]
Identification
Tennessee requires all voters who vote in person at the polls to show ID that has their signature on it; first-time voters who registered by mail will also have to show either a photo ID or a document with their name and address.
First-time voters who registered by mail can fulfill both ID requirements by showing their voter registration card, a current Tennessee driver’s license or non-driver’s ID card, or another photo ID that has both their name and signature, including a student ID with a signature. Otherwise, they will have to prove their identity by showing a current and valid photo ID, including a student ID, or a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or any other government document showing their name and address, and they will also have to produce a document with their signature, like a Social Security card or a credit card.[19] You can show a cell phone bill or a student housing bill to show your name and address, and you can also show an online printout of a bill or your bank statement.[20] If a voter cannot show a document with a signature, they can sign an affidavit and vote a regular ballot.[21] If a cannot can’t show a photo ID or a document with their name and address, they will have to vote a provisional ballot, which will be counted if it is determined that they are an eligible voter.[22]
All other voters must show evidence of their signature at the polls, such as a voter registration certificate, Tennessee driver’s license or non-driver’s ID card, Social Security card, credit card or any other document with his/her signature.[23] If a voter cannot show a document with a signature, they can sign an affidavit and vote by regular ballot.[24]
Absentee Voting
Only voters who either registered to vote in person or who have voted before in Tennessee can vote by absentee ballot.[25] To vote absentee, voters must be either attending school outside their county of registration, or have another reason for being outside of their county of registration during both Election Day and the early voting period (from 20 days before the election to 5 days before the election).[26] First-time voters who registered by mail are not allowed to vote absentee and must travel to their voting residences to vote in person.[27]
Your absentee ballot application, which can be mailed or faxed, must be received by the county elections commission seven days before the election.[28] You must mail in your absentee ballot, and it has to be received by the county election commission by the close of polls on Election Day.[29]
Early Voting
As a convenience to voters, Tennessee has early voting which begins 20 days before an election and ends 5 days before Election Day.[30] At the county election commission, you can vote any precinct’s ballot for that county. If you do not consider your school address to be your permanent address, or if you have not changed your residence yet, then early voting provides an opportunity to vote a ballot at the residence from which you are absent.
Last Updated in April 2010
[1] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-2-109 (2010).
[2] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-2-115(7).
[3] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-2-122(a)(1) (2010).
[4] See Tate v. Collins, 622 F.Supp. 1409, 1412-13 (W.D. Tenn. 1985).
[5] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-2-122(a)(2).
[6] Brown, 42 S.W.2d at 211.
[7] Interview, Division of Elections, Tennessee Department of State (July 7, 2008).
[8] Interview, Division of Elections, Tennessee Department of State (July 7, 2008).
[9] Interview, Division of Elections, Tennessee Department of State (July 7, 2008).
[10] See Davidson County Election Commission, Frequently Asked Questions, available at http://www.nashville.gov/vote/faq.asp (College students “can register and vote in the precinct in which [their] school is located.”) (last accessed April 23, 2010).
[11] Brown v. Hows, 42 S.W.2d 210, 211 (Tenn. 1931).
[12] Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-50-102(47).
[13] Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-50-304(5).
[14] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-2-125(b).
[15] Tenn. Code Ann. § 27-9-101 et seq..
[16] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-104(c).
[17] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-123.
[18] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-125(b).
[19] See Division of Elections, Tennessee Department of State, “Identification Requirements for First-Time Voters That Registered by Mail,” available at http://state.tn.us/sos/election/IDRequirementChart.pdf.
[20] Interview with Brook Thompson, State Election Coordinator, Tennessee Department of State (July 18, 2008).
[21] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-112(c).
[22] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-112(a)(3).
[23] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-112(a)(3).
[24] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-7-112(a)(1)(E)
[25] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-2-115(b)(7).
[26] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-6-201(1), (2).
[27] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-2-115(b)(7).
[28] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-6-202(a)(1).
[29] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-6-303(b).
[30] Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-6-102.
