Tennessee has eased two financial hurdles for people with felony sentences who want their voting rights restored, lowering the burden of proving full compliance with child support and removing court costs as a condition for restoration, state law took effect immediately after Gov. Bill Lee signed it last week.
The Republican-supermajority Legislature approved a Democratic-sponsored change that alters Tennessee’s restoration system, including a unique requirement among states that applicants must demonstrate their child support is fully paid. Under the new law, the state no longer requires people to show they have fully paid child support before seeking restoration; instead, applicants can demonstrate they complied for the last year with child support orders, such as by using payment plans.
The legislation also unties the payment of all court costs from the voting-rights restoration process, a shift that supporters said reduces additional barriers for people trying to complete restoration. Democratic House Minority Leader Karen Camper, a bill sponsor, said the goal was to remove barriers so people can function in society.
“This is huge and this is history,” said Keeda Haynes, senior attorney for Free Hearts, an advocacy group led by formerly incarcerated women.
The bill drew a split among legislative Republicans, even as it cleared the chambers. Most Republicans supported the measure, and Democrats backed it unanimously, according to the AP report, but Senate Speaker Randy McNally voted against it. House Speaker Cameron Sexton supported it and said it preserves the requirement that people continue paying child support while creating a path to restoration.
“They need to continue paying that, and as long as they do, then there’s a possibility (to restore their voting rights),” Sexton said. “I really think that’s harder for people to argue against than maybe what something else was.”
Republican Rep. Johnny Garrett, who voted no, said his decision would hinge on whether “there still can be an (child support) arrearage owed beyond that 12 months.”
Advocates said the bill’s narrowed focus meant lawmakers did not include broader proposals sought for years, such as automatic restoration of voting rights or eliminating other ties between restoration and payments like restitution. The report said advocates also did not support a pathway for some people who are permanently disenfranchised under Tennessee’s process, including those convicted of voter fraud or most murder charges.
The restoration fight in Tennessee has stretched for years, with the state’s framework changing over time. In 2023 and early 2024, Tennessee decided the process required going to court or showing proof of a pardon rather than relying on a paperwork process, and election officials also said gun rights were required for restoration. Voting-rights advocates said those changes reflected a misinterpretation of a court order.
Lawmakers later untangled voting rights from gun rights, but advocates objected to other provisions, including keeping the process in court where costs can accumulate if someone is not ruled indigent.
The child-support requirement dates to 2006, when lawmakers put it in place as part of an overhaul bill that also created a process outside court. Critics said the requirement penalized impoverished parents, and the report noted that Democrats then were narrowly holding leadership in both legislative chambers while Republicans held a slim Senate majority.
Last year also came after a federal lawsuit over Tennessee’s voting-rights restoration system was dismissed, according to the report. Free Hearts and the Campaign Legal Center represented plaintiffs in the long-delayed case, which included some election policy changes as it progressed. The report said a plaintiffs expert estimated in 2023 that roughly 184,000 people had completed supervision for felonies and were not barred by their offenses from restoring voting rights, with about one in 10 estimated to have outstanding child support and more than six in 10 estimated to owe court costs, restitution, or both.
Across the country, states have taken different approaches. Voting rights are automatically restored upon release in nearly half of states, while in 15 others it happens after parole, probation or a similar period and sometimes requires paying outstanding court costs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Florida, the report said voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 restoring the right to vote for people with felony convictions, but a Republican-controlled Legislature later watered it down by requiring payment of fines, fees and court costs.
The report said a number of states, including Tennessee, require additional government action, and it noted that Virginia’s governor must intervene to restore voting rights for people convicted of felonies. In Virginia, lawmakers have passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would ask voters whether they want automatic restoration after someone is released from prison, and Kentucky lawmakers have proposed a similar change for voters’ consideration after certain completed sentences.
At the center of Tennessee’s change, advocates argued the legislature’s revisions loosened some of the most consequential financial restrictions. Supporters said the new approach still keeps child-support obligations on the table, but shifts the focus from full payment to recent compliance—an adjustment that will now shape how applicants for restored voting rights navigate the state’s process.