Cannon Election Commission Informs Voters Of New Law

Comment   Email   Print
Related Articles
The Tennessee General Assembly recently passed a law to make the elections process more secure. Beginning in 2012, voters must present identification bearing their names and photographs in order to vote, just as if they were boarding an airplane or cashing a check.

The process is simple: voters who do not have valid photo IDs may obtain free photo IDs for voting from any participating Department of Safety driver service center across the state. And voters over the age of 60 who have driver’s licenses without photos and no other form of valid photo IDs for voting may have their photos added to their licenses free of charge.

County election commissions are making efforts now to get the message out about the changes well in advance of the 2012 elections.

“Our staff is prepared to help voters learn about the new requirements, and, if necessary, how to get a photo ID,” said Stan Dobson, Election Administrator.  “We will do our best to ensure every voter is informed in plenty of time.”

Examples of acceptable photo IDs, even if expired, include: a Tennessee driver’s license with a photo, a United States passport, a Department of Safety photo ID, a United States military photo ID, a state-issued handgun carry permit, or any other photo ID issued by the federal or state government, except college student IDs.

“Local election administrators are working hard to prepare voters and poll workers,” said Secretary of State Tre Hargett. “I am confident this law will be beneficial and can be implemented smoothly.”

Some citizens will be exempt from the new law, including: absentee voters, residents of nursing homes or assisted living centers who vote at the facility, people who are hospitalized, people who have religious objections to being photographed and those who are indigent and unable to pay for photo IDs. Voters who do not bring photo IDs to the polls may vote with provisional ballots that will be counted if they return to their local election commission office and present a valid photo ID within two business days of the election.
   
For more information about the voting requirements, contact the Cannon County Election Commission at 563-5650 or call Mark Goins, Coordinator of Elections, or Andrew Dodd, Elections Specialist, in the state Division of Elections at 1-877-850-4959.
Read more from:
CANNON COMMUNITY
Tags: 
None
Share: 
Comment   Email   Print
Members Opinions:
September 02, 2011 at 6:29am
I am with the ACLU on this:

"Many Americans do not have the necessary identification that these laws require, and face barriers to voting as a result. Research shows, for example, that more than 21 million Americans do not have government-issued photo identification; a disproportionate number of these Americans are low-income, racial and ethnic minorities, and elderly."

Nothing more than an attempt by the Republican Party to block the votes from that "disproportionate" group who normally cast their ballots for the Democrat.



[Delete]
September 02, 2011 at 7:41am
It is no more burdensome for a black or Hispanic person in Cannon County to obtain a photo ID than it is a Caucasian person. A not-so-well off person in Cannon County can obtain one as easily as one who is better off. Exceptions and assistance is being offered to those who are elderly. The only reason anyone who would be opposed to this law is because they are in favor of enhancing the opportunities for voter fraud.

37.9 percent of the voting-age population didn't vote in the 2010 elections. It wasn't because they didn't have a photo ID card.
[Delete]
September 02, 2011 at 9:52am
The only reason the legislature has blocked the implementation of a verifiable paper trail at the polls is because they are in favor of enhancing the opportunities for electronic voting machine fraud.
[Delete]
September 02, 2011 at 12:45pm
Why would you possibly have a problem with proving you are who you are unless you have something to hide?

This is like everything else in life. If you want something to complain about then you will find it.

This does not require people who can't go to the polls, i.e. disabled, and hospitalized to obtain a picture i.d.

It also allows people who can't afford it to simply show up and get a free i.d.

It could not be any more user friendly unless the State of Tennessee rented a van and went by everyone's house and picked them up and took them to get their picture taken.

There is nothing biased, racist, fraudulent, discriminatory or involve some deep conspiracy to block anyone from voting in any election. To the contrary it is designed to prevent it.

Again, people really need to find something to complain about it this is all they have. Especially considering the fact that probably 90% of Americans over the age of 16 have some form of picture i.d.

And it doesn't even have to be current or valid.

Oh yeah, I forgot my ice-cream is cold so I need to complain about that too!
September 03, 2011 at 5:40am
What hogwash from the Right. Honest to GOD, do you two really believe this was all about voter fraud and not about disenfranchising certain segments of our society across the state that have traditionally voted for the Democrat candidate?



[Delete]
September 03, 2011 at 6:05am
Where would these "segments" be? I'm interested in knowing where it is more difficult to obtain a photo ID than others.

I guess Democrats are looking for every excuse possible to explain why people won't vote for them in the next election, except for the true one — their failed liberal policies. Like those which brought about zero jobs gained in August, economic stagnation nearing another recession, and continued unemployment over 9 percent for the foreseeable future.
[Delete]
September 03, 2011 at 6:21am
Sorry MMW, I just don't believe in the eternal conspiracy theory you or the LEFT subscribe to.

Everything in life is not about someone trying to hide something, pull the wool over your eyes or take something away from you.

I believe if you are a citizen who wants to vote, who has nothing to hide, which has the ability to obtain a simple form of picture i.d. to prove who you are then this law means absolutely nothing to you.

If you have something to hide, if you don't want people to know who you are, if you are paranoid about every detail in life then it probably will terrorize you to actually have to prove who you are by showing something as simple as a photo i.d.

You have to prove who you are with a picture i.d. when you write a check, buy alcohol, cigarettes, pick up tickets at an event that you have waiting, most employers require a picture i.d. where you work and you need one to drive a car.

Requiring a picture i.d. to vote is not about "disenfranchising certain segments of our society" as you suggest, it is simply about proving who you are. Again, people with nothing to hide could simply care less.

If you think it is about not allowing people to vote Democratic, then it sounds to me as if you think there are a lot of people voting for that party who shouldn’t be.

Otherwise you wouldn’t cry me a river about something as simple a picture.
September 03, 2011 at 2:55pm
I have been voting since '52 when I voted for Ike.
I have a voter registration card and have not needed a photo ID card ever to vote or to cash a check or buy anything I have ever purchased.
I can present a DD214 and Birth Certificate, Social Security Card, Medicare Card and a Driver's License Card without a photo on it (you don't need a photo on one to drive a car after a certain age-look that up Corey) but that is not good enough. I must now drive into a neighboring county and get in line to get a photo ID card to vote in 2012. Last time I went thru a driver's license place it was two hours of my time.

Nothing more than to place a hardship on those who lack the means and opportunity to readily obtain a voter ID card.
The paraniods are those who suspect every person coming thru the line has already voting once or is voting some dead person at three different places and going to cast their vote for a Democrat.
[Delete]
September 03, 2011 at 4:25pm
"... every person coming thru the line has already voting once or is voting some dead person at three different places and going to cast their vote for a Democrat."

The truth will out. Seeing as that has been the MO for Democrats in certain "segments" of the country they don't want anything done to put it to a stop.
[Delete]
September 03, 2011 at 6:23pm

MMW I am so glad you can prove who you are.

You will have no problem voting any time soon will you?

I am not sure what state you live in, but when you get a driver’s license in the State of Tennessee it comes with a photo i.d. and to my knowledge you cannot request a driver’s license without one. So I will stand by my statement that you must have a photo i.d. to drive. I will let you look it up.

I am still really unclear how it will "place a hardship on those who lack the means and opportunity to readily obtain a voter ID card" considering it is FREE and NO CHARGE to anyone who doesn't have one already.

I tell you what, if you know of someone who has no i.d. and has no ability to get someone to take them to get one, send me an email and I will help them find a way.

Actually, I think the paranoids are the ones who spend their time thinking that this is "nothing more than an attempt by the Republican Party to block the votes from that "disproportionate" group who normally cast their ballots for the Democrat" as someone above stated.

I wonder how the JFK would have fared in 1960 if everyone who voted were required to have a photo i.d.

Perhaps all of those "dead people" who voted would have been turned away.
September 04, 2011 at 6:04am
Corey, once again your knowledge is very limited. You had better look up the ground rules on driver's license photos. Try not to be so cocksure on everything, you might learn something new.
September 04, 2011 at 7:15am
While it is true that people over the age of 60 do not have to have their picture on their driver's license, it is a better idea to have it on the license. You not only need it to drive, but, at the bank, at the retail stores, doctors' offices and my recent experience was to be asked when making a real estate transaction. The real estate attorney made full page blow-up copies of our picture licenses for filing with the legal papers.
In this day of identity fraud, it is better to have that picture ID than not.
[Delete]
September 04, 2011 at 7:48am
MMW here is the information I got from the "cocksure" website TN.GOV which is the official website of the State of Tennessee.

This is what is REQUIRED for you to bring in order to obtain a Tennessee Driver's license.

PLEASE NOTE: All documents are subject to verification with the issuing agency or source. Documents subject to verification may delay the issuance of your permit, driver license or identification only license.

No photocopies will be accepted!

For a Regular Class D Driver License you will need:

Proof of U.S. Citizenship, Lawful Permanent Resident Status or Proof of authorized stay in the United States
Primary Proof of Identity
Secondary Proof of Identity
Proof of any Name Changes if Different than name on Primary ID
Two Proofs of Tennessee Residency with your name and resident address - NO P.O. BOXES (Documents must be current. Must be dated within last 4 months.)
A Social Security Number or sworn affidavit if no Social Security number has been issued.
If you are under eighteen (18) years of age you will need the above documents plus:

Teenage Affidavit/Financial Responsibility
Proof of school attendance/progress
Certification of 50 Hours behind the Wheel Driving Experience (SF-1256)
Additional Requirements

To obtain a Tennessee Driver License for the first time when an applicant is under the age of 18, proof of prior driving experience is required. The applicant must either:

Obtain a learner permit for at least six (6) months (180 days)
-OR-
Have been licensed to drive in another state for at least 90 days.
Applicants not yet eighteen years old must have an adult sign a Minor/Teen-age Affidavit and Cancellation form, which can be picked up at any driver license station or downloaded in Adobe PDF format..

So I think the only one limited in their knowledge would be you. Do you see how many times they require you to prove who you are just to get a drivers license?

They require it multiple times and you are complaining about the requirement one time to vote.

You just simply want to argue for the sake of arguing. None of this has anything to do with a grand conspiracy to keep people from voting as you suggested above.
September 04, 2011 at 12:21pm
Corey, read this: "So I will stand by my statement that you must have a photo i.d. to drive."

I don't and I drive!
[Delete]
September 04, 2011 at 12:31pm
MMW, read this:

"Nothing more than an attempt by the Republican Party to block the votes from that "disproportionate" group who normally cast their ballots for the Democrat."

"Nothing more than to place a hardship on those who lack the means and opportunity to readily obtain a voter ID card."

"What hogwash from the Right. Honest to GOD, do you two really believe this was all about voter fraud and not about disenfranchising certain segments of our society across the state that have traditionally voted for the Democrat candidate?"

I'll conceed that after a certain age you don't have to have a photo i.d. to drive if you will conceed that you subscribe to conspiracy theories that are unfounded, unprovable, paranoid, without merit and borderline scary.

I am done with this. I have a stump in my back yard that you can argue with if you want to go any further.



[Delete]
September 04, 2011 at 12:35pm
Great MMW. Drive to your nearest service center and get your picture taken. Or is your next claim going to be that most people in the "disproportionate" group you are so worried about walk to the place they vote? If so, do they "walk" to the grocery store, the clothes store, the bank, the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker?
September 04, 2011 at 12:58pm
Halpren, go by the Holiday House and see how many of those folks depend on someone else to furnish them transportation, go by any housing project with a preponderance of disadvantaged people and see how many of those folks also depend on someone or some organization to furnish transportation to and from doctors, dentist, grocery store, drug store, bank or whereever.
Ask those same folks how many have passport IDs or driver's license with a photo on them and then ask how many of those go to the polls each year and vote and will need assistance to obtain voter id's for next year's elections.
A ploy to disenfranchise a segment of the voting population-done solely because these folks normally vote for Democrats.

Hope that stump can teach that boy something.

[Delete]
September 04, 2011 at 1:53pm
MMW, if those folks are depending on someone else to furnish them them transportation to all of those places, one little trip to a service center would be a minor inconvenience. I see several people from the "projects" in court each week and they somehow manage to get transportation to obtain their beer, liquor, cigarettes and drugs. The only "ploy" involved in all this is the one Democrats are so adept at, which is creating a larger group of people dependent on government handouts.
[Delete]
September 04, 2011 at 6:27pm
MMW I will have to agree with Kevin and Corey on this. If you voted for Ike in '52 then you had to be at least 18 and that would make you approximately 78 years old today.
With all due respect, it sounds like to me from what I have read above that you seem to be a very bitter and paranoid individual that could really spend your time more wisely by enjoying life instead of thinking everyone was out to conspire against you. I am sure it is raising your blood pressure to worry about everyone as much as you seem to be doing.
With all of the terrorist groups in the world trying to kill Americans and influencing our society with things like Sharia Law and with all of the illegal immigrants who populate our country receiving food stamps, medical care and believe it or not voting in elections then this law is not only absolutely needed, it is incomprehensible that we have not required it for years.
I daresay you would be one of the first to complain about why a terrorist could get into this country and do us harm if we didn't require a photo I.D. upon entering here. Or why our constitution was disregarded and someone who kills Americans is not subject to our laws because there was a vote on Sharia Law and people with no photo I.D. voted for it.
Relax, breathe and free your mind from the idea everyone is out to get you because I doubt very seriously you are on any groups radar as a high priority target.
September 05, 2011 at 5:57am
You know, we have always have a group of people who did not want others to vote. Early history shows that voting was restricted to those who had money and property. Of course they had to be white and they had to be males and quite possisbly members of a certain faith.
Those who objected to these restrictions were called paranoid or disparged for their lack of patriotism or whatever else came to mind with some violence involved, no doubt tarred and feathered.
We disenfranchised women, Negroes, Native Americans, poor who had no money or property by using the same rationale as some are using now with this law.
Terrorists, beer, liquor, drugs, conspiracy, paranoid, people from "projects" in court, Sharia law seem to thrown at anyone who wants to expand the priviledge to more people rather than make that priviledge more restrictive.
I suspect when women began to vote we had similar comments coming from some and when Negroes were finally given the absolute freedoms that whites had enjoyed for decades, can you imagine the consternation of those who wanted this denied.
We should be looking for ways to get more people to vote rather than throw up barriers that impede the process.
ID cards like this is a step into the past, much like the poll tax of old.





[Delete]
September 05, 2011 at 6:15am
To paraphrase from an earlier post, what hogwash from the Left.
[Delete]
September 05, 2011 at 8:24am
MMW you can really tell by the way you write how out of date and out of touch with current reality you are.
None of this has anything to do with trying to prevent anyone from voting. It has everything to do with protecting the integrity of the voting process. Requiring people to prove who they are prevents voter fraud, period.
If you were not so narrow minded in your ideas and intent on seeing the negative in life you could understand that the law does not stop anyone from voting. And for the life of me I cannot possibly understand why you would promote the idea of Sharia Law. It is 100% anti-American and anti-U.S. Constitution and if you don't think we should restrict that then you are worse off than I thought.
Two last things. One is the African American people have not been called Negroes in about forty years, so turn on the TV and at least learn the lingo of 2011.
Two if you knew more about the women's right to vote, you would know that a wise man from Tennessee named Harry T. Burn gave women the right to vote in 1920. Tennessee has always led the way and continues to do so with a photo ID proving who you are the person who is eligible to vote.
ID cards are not a step into the past, the only living there is you MMW and I find it very pathetic!
September 05, 2011 at 9:03am
People, get REAL. In this day of rampant identify stealing and voting fraud, do you not want to be sure that your candidate ( whichever party you support) is given equal chance to be elected by legal votes.
I am a senior citizen and not real fond of my license photo, but as Popeye said, "it what it is".
It seems that there are some people who are haveing to be pushed, pulled or dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st. century.
September 06, 2011 at 9:48am
Got to wonder how Islamophia got into the discussion on voting and such invectives as anti-American and anti-Constitution could come into play when one believes the state has placed a barrier in the path of those who are eligible to vote.
You might want to read the Constitution before trying to restict voters even more, particularily the sufferage amendments and the court cases that related to the Equal Protection Clause before using "anti-Constitution and anti-American.
Using voter fraud when little or no voter fraud exists in Tennessee seems little irrational and using the example of a Tennessean pushing to gain voting rights for women to defend placing a barrier in the path of certain segments (disadvantaged Negroes and whites and some elderly as an examples) of the voting public seems a little off the mark, at best.

[Delete]
September 06, 2011 at 2:21pm
MMW I wondered how the paranoia got into the discussion and then I scroll up and read your schizophrenic comments and I realize where they got started.
Thank you, but I have read the Constitution and I am quite verse on the subject of the Suffrage movement of the 1920's. I doubt very seriously you even know how to spell Suffrage without using spell check on your computer.
Once again, quit living in 1960 and understand that African Americans are NOT called Negroes any longer and it is offensive for you to continue to call them that.
No one is putting any kind of barrier in front of any group. The elderly and those who are disadvantaged have several outlets to obtain a photo ID or in most cases are not required to have one. You are just lying to yourself and everyone you are trying to convince by implying that they are.
I feel real pity for someone like yourself who obviously has no life and nothing to do but waste away your remaining years blabbing about nonsense that no one cares about.
For a 78 year old man, you are really the only “boy” I see writing comments. Corey may write something about every subject, but at least he makes sense with his arguments. I see now why he chose to get out of the conversation and tell you to go argue with a stump.
September 07, 2011 at 9:21am
Sally, I wrote, in cursive no less, “suffrage” 200 times and in ink too. I used the old fashioned ink pen, not a ballpoint. My mistake again. I seldom use spell check. Is that something like a dictionary I used in the thirties?
You had better tack on another decade on me since I did lose a few bucks (should that be dollars) betting on Dewey.
I have included a quote from the NAACP for you to look over and if I offended any of those who dislike the descriptive word I used, my apology.
You are correct of course and quite frankly that same word, African-American, aptly describes the rest of us since we all can claim ancestry back to the RIFT Valley.


From the NAACP: “While we have reached a time in American history where the word Negro is far from the way many Blacks self-identify, the Census Bureau’s decision (and Congress’s approval) of the continued use of the word Negro on the 2010 Census form highlights how close our historical experience is to our current history. In fact, America’s use of the word Negro on the Census form since 1950, and its introduction of the term African American for the first time in 2000, may explain why Census officials found that some “respondents provided a write-in response of ‘Negro’ when answering the question on race” on the 2000 Census form”.

Guess I had that 2010 census on my mind when I used that word.
I also remember back in the 50s when McCarthy used a similar method seen in some posts here. So I guess nothing has really changed.
[Delete]
September 07, 2011 at 10:44am
MMW I find you to be an old, bitter and completely inane individual who more time on his hands than he knows what to do with. I too have a stump you can argue with because that is your intent and it is really, really disturbing and quite honestly childish at this point. For someone who claims to be as old as you are, I envision you laying in the floor kicking and screaming throwing your temper tantrum crying for your pacifier. Grow up and act your age.
September 08, 2011 at 10:00pm
MMM I sorta agree with SallyK --- You need to step back and take a deep breath. I qualify for the non-photo license myself. (License holders who are 60 years or older may opt for a non-photo license). But I also support the new law and I am sure that the creator of the law just didn’t think through the non-photo quirk in TN law for seniors. Frankly, I think the non-photo option for seniors is crazy. Try looking from a police officers point of view --- how in the world do they know that drivers license is issued to driver they have stopped based upon a description? Like wise, dead people seem to have a habit of voting in Tennessee ---- I like the concept of one vote for each “alive” person. I guess they could ink your figure like they do in Iraq -- but --- you would complain about that also ------ If you want to vote -- Go get a photo ID while you can still drive.
September 09, 2011 at 6:53am
Excerpts from the article in this morning's Tennessean(more of those parinoid, Sharia Law lovers, anti-American, anti-Constitution, bitter, inane old men, childish folks ranting and raving about this law--wonder why some many Red States jumped on the band wagon.)
Tennessean:
"WASHINGTON — Laws that require voters to show photo identification at the polls reduce election fraud, supporters of Tennessee’s new voter ID law told Senate lawmakers Thursday.
1. Opponents of such laws countered that they target low-income, minority and student voters, who are more likely to vote for Democrats and might lack government-issued IDs such as driver’s licenses and passports.
Democrats and voting-rights advocates told members of the Senate subcommittee on civil rights that rural and elderly voters also could be disproportionately affected because they might have trouble traveling to get an ID.
In Tennessee, voters older than 60 aren’t required to have a photo on their driver’s licenses.
“I am deeply concerned by this coordinated, well-funded effort to pass laws that would compromise the right to vote,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chairman of the civil rights subcommittee, said at Thursday’s hearing.

He said the incidence of voter fraud is “minimal” and doesn’t justify such measures.

Republican-controlled legislatures in five other states — Kansas, Wisconsin, Alabama, South Carolina and Texas — and Rhode Island’s Democratic legislature have enacted similar legislation this year, bringing the total number of states with photo ID laws to 14, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“Our country has not seen such widespread attempts to disenfranchise voters as we have seen this year in over a century,” Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project, told lawmakers. “Despite the myth that everyone has ID, many voters do not.”
Eleven percent of eligible voters lack a government-issued photo ID, according to Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s law school. That’s true of 15 percent of low-income Americans, 18 percent of senior citizens and 25 percent of blacks, she said."
[Delete]
September 09, 2011 at 3:17pm
MMW it is almost as if a fellow named "dailyreader" has been reincarnated and come back to life on the Cannon Courier website.

He made about as much sense as you and was a self proclaimed know it all like yourself. I think perhaps you deleted one account and simplified your log in name down to MMW.

What a pathetic, bitter old man. I sincerely do feel real pity for you.
[Delete]
September 09, 2011 at 8:03pm
Go get your photo I.D. and GET OVER IT!!
Powered by Bondware
News Publishing Software

The browser you are using is outdated!

You may not be getting all you can out of your browsing experience
and may be open to security risks!

Consider upgrading to the latest version of your browser or choose on below: