Secretary of State Statement Regarding U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Concerning Arizona’s Citizenship Verification Law (Arizona et al v. United States)

Jun 20, 2013 at 08:10 pm by bryan


On Thursday, Secretary of State Tre Hargett commented on the recent Supreme Court ruling that may have had an impact on Tennessee voters and the process of verifying the citizenship of local voters during an election.

Hargett stated, "It is our opinion that the recent Supreme Court ruling does not impact our current process in Tennessee for verifying citizenship for voters."

"Arizona rejected new voter registrations that did not include proof of citizenship, such as birth certificates.  Our process in Tennessee is different.  We do not require that type of documentation when registering to vote. However, each registering voter must swear under penalty of perjury that he or she is a citizen."

"We do have a process of verifying citizenship, but that process is only used if we have evidence a person is not a U.S. citizen and is therefore ineligible to be included on our voter rolls."

Source:

Blake Fontenay, Communications Director

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