Tennessee to count provisional ballots by people convicted of felonies who had rights in limbo

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee will count the provisional ballots cast by six people convicted of felonies who had their voting rights recently restored under judges' rulings, but had been placed in limbo after state officials filed a flurry of legal motions arguing that they had to get their gun rights back in order to vote again.

According to letters sent to local election commissions earlier this month, Election Coordinator Mark Goins told officials to count the provisional ballots.

“Although other courts have addressed requests for restoration of rights differently and I disagree with the court's order, in this specific case given the timing and the language in this specific order, we must follow the court order, even though it is not final,” Goins wrote in one letter on Nov. 15.

In January, Tennessee's Secretary of State office shocked voting rights advocates when it announced that people convicted of a felony must get their gun rights and other “citizenship rights” restored before they can become eligible to cast a ballot again.

While explaining their decision, the election office pointed to a 2023 state Supreme Court ruling that said all people convicted of felonies applying for reinstated voting rights first get their “full citizenship rights” restored by a judge or show they were pardoned by a governor. Gun rights were among those required, the Secretary of State's office determined.

Critics have argued the state's legal interpretation was way off-base, but the state has fiercely defended its position. When a handful of voters sought to cast ballots in the November election despite having been convicted of felony offenses that stripped away their gun rights, they went to court and the judges sided with them. Then the state fought back — launching several motions for judges to change their decisions.

In one ruling, a judge said “full rights of citizenship” can still be restored even when someone’s gun rights still have to be barred due to restrictions in state law, citing a 2002 Tennessee Supreme Court ruling. Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton noted that the gun-banning offenses are not among those specified in state law as ineligible for voting rights restoration.

As the case dragged past Election Day, the six voters involved in the lawsuit were told to vote provisionally — meaning that their ballots would be counted after their voting status was confirmed.

Another Nashville judge ruled similarly on Friday in two voters' restoration cases.

“I do believe that the case law in Tennessee is such that the right to vote can be restored without having to restore the right to bear arms,” Judge Thomas Brothers said in court.

Despite begrudgingly allowing the six voters to cast their provisional ballots, Goins warned election commissions in Davidson, Lewis, Sumner and Wilson counties that the latest court orders were not final.

“This court order may ultimately be reversed or amended,” Goins wrote. “If that happens, the voter registration may be subject to being purged.”

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Associated Press writer Jonathan Mattise contributed from Nashville.