A foundation that promotes civic engagement among young Americans is among several groups that have sued to block enactment of a new Tennessee law that they contend would suppress voting on college campuses and elsewhere with strict new registration rules and substantial penalties for violating them.
The Andrew Goodman Foundation, anticipating that Gov. Bill Lee would sign the controversial Third Party Voter Registration Law over strenuous objections – which he did on May 2 – immediately filed a federal lawsuit to prevent it from taking effect Oct. 1.
“It didn’t pass the smell test,” said attorney Maxim Thorne, managing director of the Andrew Goodman Foundation.
Three co-plaintiffs joined the foundation in the litigation: the state’s NAACP, Democracy Nashville-Democratic Communities and The Equity Alliance.
The new law imposes stricter standards on how voter-registration forms are completed and when they must be turned in. It also requires registration workers to undergo training and bars basing their pay on the number of voters they register.
Violators could face civil and criminal charges, fines of up to $10,000 and up to a year in jail.
Proponents of the legislation said tougher measures were needed to address problems in recent elections such as massive numbers of registration forms – many of them incomplete or inaccurate – being dumped on processing offices at the last minute.
