Tennessee is sending a clear message, if you don’t have the right to own a gun, then you don’t have the right to vote. A recent rule came through banning people with felony charges from voting, it’s obvious that Tennessee is changing the way they handle voting rights.
Rights For Voting Being Violated
This change in voting rights is set to affect 475,000 Tennessee residents, and has been denounced by rights groups claiming it is violating Americans’ right to vote.
They claim it has affected black Americans and Latinos specifically.
Claims Of Suppression
There have also been claims made that these changes were made specifically to “suppress the black vote.”
Local media reports that these are the allegations being made.
Prioritizing The Restoration Of Gun Rights
Voting rights policies in Tennessee have gotten more strict over the last year requiring that anyone convicted of a crime must first have their gun rights reinstated before they are allowed to vote in ballots, that includes this year’s presidential election.
If a person has been convicted with a felony crime they are prohibited from buying or carrying a firearm, obviously restricting their rights to vote.
Legal Action
The Campaign Legal Center, an advocacy group in Washington has pursued legal action over Tennessee’s choice to restrict people from voting, they are also suing the state in federal court
Director of the center’s Restore Your Vote program, Blair Bowie, has stated Tennessee officials were not interpreting the law correctly.
Confusion With Restoration
It’s become confusing now for convicted criminals on how they should go about doing the paperwork to restore their gun rights.
State officials have to sign the documents and give information on how to appeal if you are to be denied, that’s if an appeal is even possible.
‘Twisting the Law‘
Bowie told The Associated Press:
“Despite the Tennessee legislature’s clear intent to create meaningful pathways for voting rights restoration, the Elections Division, with help from the Attorney General’s office, continues to twist the law into tortured knots to prevent the 475,000 Tennesseans, including over 20 percent of voting age Black Tennesseans, with past felony convictions from voting.”
Possibility For More Restrictions
A few local officials have made it very clear that they do not want people convicted of crimes to vote in elections.
They have even mentioned that they would like to implement more restrictions.
Delay In The Lawsuit
The lawsuit that the center made against Tennessse was scheduled to be heard last November, but there has been a delay.
Bowie said, it isn’t likely that the trial will take place now until after the presidential election on November 5th.
No to ‘Felons Voting‘
Mcnally a senate speaker stated:
“Overall, I’m not in favor of felons voting. I think they’ve committed a serious crime, serious offense against the state. And until they’re out of jail and either been pardoned or exonerated for what they did, then they forfeit that right.”
The Presidential Election In 2020
It seems that this year’s presidential election is turning out to be a contest between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Essentially it is proving to be a repeat of the 2020 presidential election that Trump ultimately lost, the one he still has yet to concede defeat. Instead he continues to insist that the votes were “rigged” and “stolen.”
Odds For Trump In 2024
The only two remaining Republican party candidates are Trump and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, the rest have dropped out.
Trump secured his win in the first of the primaries, in Iowa and New Hampshire, and is about 55 points ahead of Haley in national polling. Making him the most likely to be the GOP nominee.
Biden Takes The Lead For Democrats
As far as the Democratic side is concerned, President Biden is in the lead, with approximately 70% of voters supporting him, unlike his opponents Marianne Willamson and Dean Phillips who are in the single digits.
Trump has yet to decide who his running mate will be, while Biden is running with Vice President Kamala Harris as his deputy. Trump has recently made comments that while he has “someone in mind,” he will take his time in figuring out who that person will end up being.
Biden Is Ahead Of Trump
Quinnipiac University put out newer polls at the end of January that put Biden about 6 points ahead of Trump, with the incumbent at 50 percent and his likely challenger at 44.
Hard to say who will actually take the lead in this year’s election.
Trump Wins Poll Against Biden
In a hypothetical contest between Biden and Trump, a poll conducted in early January put former President Donald Trump at 63 percent support among voters, while Biden only had 31 percent.
This was prior to Trump’s sweep of the first GOP primaries.
Challenges For Trump
Despite holding a substantial lead for the Republican nomination at the party’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July, Trump is still faced with significant challenges that could derail his campaign.
He is facing four indictments that contain a total of 91 criminal charges and is off the primary ballots in Colorado and Maine for insurrection connected to the January 6, 2021, riots at the US Capitol. Proving that regardless of support he still may have an uphill battle in trying to win this election.
