The Tennessee Secretary of State’s office is trying to convince registered voters who are immigrants to show proof of their residency. A letter went out to more than 14,000 voters letting them know that voting illegally is a crime.
Turgut Ovunc moved to Tennessee from Turkey and became a citizen 12 years ago. Ever since, he’s voted in state and federal elections. But then, Ovunc got a letter from the state (below).
Ovunc says he was “really angry” his citizenship was being questioned in the very state where he became a U.S. citizen. And he knows he’s not alone.
“The intention of this letter is to clearly either intimidate immigrants, or naturalized immigrants, or to outright trick them, in case, they do not speak English that well,” Ovunc said.
He says the second page is the most damning. Included in the letter is a form to remove his name from the voter logs, along with a stamped envelope.
Ovunc believes there may be some people intimidated by the idea of facing a felony charge, and they may remove themselves.
Jonathan Diaz is with the Campaign Legal Center. He says the state knows exactly what they’re doing.
“They’re asking people to voluntarily provide this additional documentary, proof of citizenship, because they know they can’t require it,” Diaz said. “But, in doing that, they’re trying to get around these protections under federal law and remove these people from the rolls anyway.”
Tennessee is already in court over an attempt to purge voter rolls. They’re being sued for requesting additional paperwork from people who got their voting rights back.
In defense, Secretary of State spokesman Doug Kufner says it’s all part of election security.
He says it’s not a perfect system and admits there could be other people who received the letter but have since been naturalized.