The Independent View: TN Green Party Sues to Overturn Photo-ID at Polls Law

On August 26, the Green Party of Tennessee filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District, Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett, against Tennessee’s law that requires voters to show certain kinds of government photo-ID at the polls.

Alan Woodruff, an attorney in Gray, Tennessee, who has represented the Green Party in previous lawsuits, said he filed the complaint Monday morning. It names Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins as defendants.

“There is no justification for having the photo ID requirement, as there is no such thing as voter fraud,” said Woodruff, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress last year as the Democratic nominee in the 1st Congressional District and might run again in 2014. “It’s overly burdensome. It affects minorities and the progressive-leaning voter more than the typical Republican conservative, and it was intended to.”

The General Assembly passed the voter identification law in 2011, requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls. It took effect in January 2012. Republicans say the law discourages voter fraud, which Democrats describe as extremely rare.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld the new requirement in a state lawsuit last fall. It ruled that the state legislature has the right to pass laws that protect "the purity of the ballot box" and that asking for photo ID at the polls does not add a new requirement to voting.

The Green Party of Tennessee and the Constitution Party of Tennessee filed a suit in federal court in 2011 arguing that the state’s election laws present an insurmountable hurdle to third-party candidates who want to see their party affiliation on the ballot.

U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes Jr. granted the plaintiffs summary judgment in June of this year, ruling that state election laws violated not only smaller parties’ First Amendment right “to associate as a political party” but also the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Some of the reasons for the complaint:

1. The purpose of requiring voters to provide photo identification as a condition for in-person voting is to reduce/prevent in-person voter impersonation fraud. The State of Tennessee has no empirical evidence of the existence of in-person voter impersonation in the state. The State of Tennessee has no empirical evidence that the voter photo identification requirements of TCA §2-7-112 will reduce in-person voter impersonation fraud. The State of Tennessee had not, prior to the enactment of the voter photo identification requirements of TCA §2-7-112, had any proven case of voter impersonation fraud. The State of Tennessee cannot establish that the photo identification requirements of TCA §2-7-112 are necessary to achieve any of the objectives and purposes of the statute.

2. Photo identification cards are not required to register to vote. Only an affidavit of identity is required to register to vote. Voter signatures are required for voter registration. Voter signatures are recorded by the State of Tennessee when a voter registers to vote. Photo identification requirements have not been shown to be a more accurate form of verifying a person’s identity than that a person’s signature. The voter photo identification requirements of TCA §2-7-112 only apply to in-person voting. Persons voting by absentee ballot are not required to furnish photographic proof of identity. Absentee voting is a documented source of voter fraud nationally.

3. The forms of photo identification identified in TCA §2-7-112:
- Tennessee driver license
- Valid identification card issued by the state of Tennessee, or the United States where authorized by law to issue personal identification, provided, that such identification card contains a photograph of the voter. The limitations on acceptable forms of voter photo identification established by TCA §2-7-112 are more restrictive than needed to achieve Tennessee’s stated objective in enacting its voter photo identification. The voter photo identification requirements of TCA §2-7-112 burden the voting rights on in excess of 250,000 eligible voters. In excess of 100,000 Tennessee residents have a valid driver’s license that does not contain a photograph.

So first the Green Party says that voter-id at the polling place would not stop voter fraud as the fraud usually happens with absentee ballots. Then they argue the Republican House, Senate, and Governor passed a too restrictive voter-id law.

CLICK HERE to read the complaint.