sos.tn.gov How to Register to Vote : Tennessee

Organisation : Tennessee Secretary of State
Facility : How to Register to Vote
Country : United States
State : Tennessee

Voter Registration Application : https://www.electionin.org/uploads/545-ss-3010.pdf
Home Page : http://sos.tn.gov/elections

Register to Vote :
Voter Eligibility :
To be eligible to vote in Tennessee, you must be a citizen of the United States. You must be (18) years of age or older on or before the date of the next election. You must be a resident of Tennessee.

Related / Similar Service : SOS TN

View Guidelines for Determining Residency and special considerations for Homeless Persons Residency and Non-resident Property Owners. You must not have been convicted of a felony, or if you have, your voting rights must have been restored. View Restoration of Voting Rights. In order to participate in an election, a qualified voter must be properly registered no later than thirty (30) days before the election. The election commission office will process any by-mail voter registration form that has been postmarked at least thirty (30) days before the election. T.C.A 2-2-109.

How to Register to Vote :
You can download and complete the Voter Registration Application and mail the application to your county election commission.
You may also register in person at the following locations :
** County Clerk’s Offices
** County Election Commission Office
** Public Libraries
** Register of Deeds Offices

or during a transaction with one of the following agencies :
** Department of Health (WIC program)
** Department of Human Services
** Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
** Department of Mental Health
** Department of Safety (motor vehicles division)
** Department of Veteran’s Affair

Guidelines for Determining Residency :
To determine whether a person is a resident of Tennessee for purposes of voter registration, the administrator of elections must consider the following factors.
** The residence of a person is the place where the person’s habitation is fixed and is where, during periods of absence, the person definitely intends to return.
** A person can have only one residence.
** A change of residence is made not only by relocation, but also by intent to remain in the new location permanently, and by demonstrating actions consistent with that intention.

The following factors may be considered :
** The person’s possession, acquisition or surrender of inhabitable property;
** Location of the person’s occupation;
** Place of licensing or registration of the person’s personal property;
** Place of payment of taxes which are governed by residence;
** Purpose for a person’s presence in a particular place; and
** Place of the person’s licensing for activities such as driving.

The place where a married person’s spouse and family live is presumed to be that person’s residence, unless that person takes up or continues abode with the intention of remaining in a place other than where the spouse and family reside.

No person gains or loses residency solely by presence in or absence from the state while employed in the service of the United States or this state, or while a student at an institution of higher learning, or while kept in an institution at public expense.

Restoration of Voting Rights :
Article 4, §2 of the Tennessee Constitution provides that the Tennessee legislature may deny the right to vote to persons convicted of “infamous” crimes. Pursuant to this provision in the Tennessee Constitution, the Tennessee legislature has excluded individuals convicted of various felonies from the right of suffrage.

However, the legislature has also established conditions and procedures through which individuals who have lost their voting rights may regain them. The manner in which a person may restore a lost voting right depends upon the crime committed and the year in which the conviction occurred.

Restoration of Voting Rights Form :
The restoration of voting rights form may be used to restore an individual’s voting rights for a felony conviction on or after May 18, 1981.

Note: For each felony conviction imposed on or after May 18, 1981, whether it is a federal conviction, a state conviction within Tennessee or a state conviction from another state, a separate restoration of voting rights form must be completed for each felony conviction with a different docket/case number.

The form must be completed by an agent, such as a probation/parole officer or criminal court clerk, who has the authority to provide the required information regarding the individual’s conviction, final release date and information regarding restitution or court cost. The person convicted of the felony offense may not complete the restoration of voting rights form. Once the form(s) are completed, the form(s) must be submitted to the local county election commission office in the county in which the individual resides.

The restoration of voting rights form only restores an individual’s voting rights. An individual’s citizenship rights must be restored through a court order