'Master class in undermining democracy': How Tennessee has gutted voting rights

Tennessee has become America's most efficient state at stripping its citizens of voting rights, according to an analysis for The New York Times — to the point the Volunteer State has become a "master class in undermining democracy."

The issue comes back to felony disenfranchisement laws, which became commonplace throughout Southern states following the end of slavery, since the justice system of several states for decades made it possible to essentially fabricate charges against Black Americans as needed, and then use that as pretext to eliminate voting rights.

In recent years, most states with these laws have rolled them back, making it far easier for most rehabilitated convicts to regain voting rights on completion of their sentence.

But in Tennessee, things are going backward: over 200,000 people are disenfranchised by such laws in the state, including 21 percent of Black adults. Among them is Sarah Bynum, a grandmother and local community advocate who runs her local homeowners' association and has fought for many municipal improvements — but because she still has no right to vote, she says she feels like "I'm a foreigner in my own country."

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"The good news is, Tennessee has a path for reclaiming voting rights," she added. "The bad news is, the process is absurdly complicated."

Specifically, Bynum would first have to restore her "rights of citizenship," which may require a pardon from the governor — complete with an application including five letters of recommendation and certified copy of every bit of paperwork from her criminal history — or hire an attorney, at thousands of dollars' expense, to convince a judge to restore her rights, including her gun rights, which are a prerequisite to restore voting rights.

To top it all off, she needs a "certificate of restoration" issued by local government officials, detailing everything she has done to complete her sentence, and pay off all her outstanding fines, fees, and restitution.

"If Tennessee lawmakers designed this system to keep nearly half a million people from voting, they've been wildly successful," the analysis continued.

Tennessee came under controversy last year after three Democratic lawmakers spoke out in the legislature alongside activists against a move to loosen gun laws, and the GOP lawmakers responded by expelling the two of the three who were Black.