HB 458

Present law requires the coordinator of elections to compare the statewide voter registration database with the department of safety database to ensure non-U.S. citizens are not registered to vote in Tennessee. The coordinator of elections is authorized to compare the statewide voter registration database with those of relevant federal and state agencies, including the SAVE program database, and county records for the same purpose. If evidence exists that a particular registered voter is not a U.S. cit iz en, the coordinator is required to notify the county election commission where the person is registered to vote that the registered voter may not be a U.S. citizen. This bill specifies that the coordinator must make the comparison with the department of safety on a monthly basis. This bill also adds to the list of databases that the coordinator is specifically authorized to make comparisons to ensure that only U.S. citizens are registered to vote in Tennessee. This bill establishes a process by which a registered voter may challenge the qualifications of another person applying to register to vote in the county or the qualifications of a person whose name appears on the voter registration list. Such process i ncludes notice and an opportunity for a hearing before the county election commission as described in the full text of this bill. A voter making a challenge has the burden to prove that the person being challenged is not qualified to be registered or rem ai n on the list of voters. If the county election commission upholds the challenge, then the person's application for registration must be rejected or the person's name removed from the list of voters. Either party may appeal from the decision of the coun ty election commission to the state election commission. Subject to exceptions for persons on the permanent absentee voting register or who are in the crime victim address confidentiality program, present law requires a person who registers by mail to appear in person to vote in the first election the person v otes in after such registration becomes effective and present satisfactory proof of identity before voting at the appropriate polling place or election commission office. This bill specifies that the requirements for appearing in person and presenting id en tification when first voting after a registration takes effect also apply to persons who register online or through an agency other than a county election commission or the department of safety. This bill increases the age at which a person is entitled to vote absentee upon request from 60 to 65 years. Except for ballots authorized by state or federal law to be delivered electronically to qualified voters who are entitled to vote by absentee ballot, present law requires that all absentee ballots must include a watermark approved by the coordinator of e lections. This bill extends the watermark requirement to all paper ballots. Present law generally authorizes county election commissions to utilize precinct-based optical scanners. This bill adds that all optical scanners used to tabulate votes must scan the hand-marked selections or the machine-printed text selections. This b ill further provides that a code that is unreadable by a human must not be used as a marking to be scanned by an optical scanner for vote tabulation. This bill requires that optical scanners used to tabulate votes must create and save a digital image of each ballot scanned and that such digital images have a resolution of at least 600 dots per inch. This bill requires the secretary of state, no later than the second Friday after an election, to make the digital images of ballots available on the secretary of state's website. Present law requires a county election commission to implement an address verification program to identify any voter who has changed the voter's address of residence without notifying the election commission. Present law requires the county election com mission to complete the address verification process at least on a biennial basis. This bill changes the frequency with which the address verification process must be completed to at least quarterly and not less than 30 days after beginning the process. This bill adds to present law concerning the address verification process by requiring the coordinator of elections to transmit voter registration addressed with residential addresses of record with the department of safety or another state agency, or co mmercially available information. This bill also requires, rather than authorizes, the coordinator to obtain information used to verify residential addresses from the department of safety and other state agencies. This bill adds to present law concerning determining a person's right to register to vote that the administrator of elections must check state databases regarding residency and citizenship before declaring the person a registered voter. This bill requires each county election commission to conduct routine voter list maintenance at least monthly to ensure that all voter registrations are being maintained and checking for accuracy of the voter registration list. This bill requires that a driver license or photo identification license issued to a person who is a legal resident but who is not a U.S. citizen must indicate that the person to whom the license was issued is not eligible to vote by having printed promin ently on the front of the license the following: NOT ELIGIBLE TO VOTE. ON FEBRUARY 5, 2026, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 367, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, allow nominees to fill a vacancy for a judge, district attorney general, or public defender occurring later than 180 days before the qualifying deadline, to be selected by statewide political parties by any met hod authorized by the rules of the party. The qualifying period for such a vacancy is determined by the date of the vacancy, as provided in present law. This amendment requires the chair of the nominating body to certify the person nominated to fill the v acancy no later than the qualifying deadline, and allows independent candidates to qualify by filing nomination petitions.