Re: “I’m a naturalized citizen and the letter Tennessee sent me reeks of voter intimidation,” by Charles Lieou, July 7.
Charles Lieou complains that he was asked to verify his voting privileges, claiming that the request he received was voter intimidation.
Sadly, as Mr. Lieou states, Tennessee’s voter registration process relies on the honesty of the applicant as to their qualifications, evidenced by the form available at https://ovr.govote.tn.gov/Registration/RegistrationDetails/BM.
Sadly, not everyone is honest and others make mistakes that require correction.
Chattanooga’s former police chief, Celeste Murphy, claimed to be a Tennessee resident in her fraudulent voter registration and Tennessee driver’s license application. Is her indictment voter intimidation? No it is not.
Mr. Lieou is correct to identify that a weakness of Tennessee’s voter registration system is its ongoing lack of verification of an individual’s domicile location, citizenship, and criminal record. What percentage of people who move immediately change their voter registration to reflect their new address?
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How many college students register to vote in the precinct where they live near their school while maintaining their domicile, drivers’ license and automobile registration, and other such information in another location? Who else has done what Celeste Murphy did?
A great solution would be to coordinate voter registration with other government databases, such as registrations with driver’s license, motor vehicle, Social Security, and even the IRS that are coordinated with state and federal law enforcement databases. If I change my voter’s registration as to assert that the submitted address is my domicile, that should trigger a change in my driver’s license and automobile registration and other databases reliant on the integrity of this information.
As to Mr. Lieou’s complaint, it should not matter if one is a government official, a nuclear scientist, a doctor, or even a dishwasher; the only ones who will be intimidated by a request to verify one’s compliance with law are those who were not careful to do so in the first place. I’m grateful that Mr. Lieou does not have to endure what Celeste Murphy is facing at this time.
I believe we should all be glad that Tennessee government is working to ensure the integrity of our election process. Like Mr. Lieou, I believe that election law verification compliance must be done prior to authorizing voting privileges.
Jim Kennedy, Smyrna 37167
Agree or disagree? Or have a view on another topic entirely? Send a letter of 250 words or fewer to letters@tennessean.com. Include your full name, city/town, ZIP and contact information for verification. Thanks for adding to the public conversation.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Voters must be citizens and Tennessee should ask about legal status
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