2023 Tennessee Code › Title 2 - ELECTIONS (§§ 2-1-101 — 2-20-109) › Chapter 2 - VOTER REGISTRATION (§§ 2-2-101 — 2-2-303) › Part 1 - REGISTRATION BY ELECTION COMMISSIONS (§§ 2-2-101 — 2-2-143) › Section 2-2-106 - Acts purging registration - Notice

(a)
The registration of a person shall be purged:
(1)
At the request of the voter;
(2)
Ninety (90) days after a change of name for any reason, except by marriage or divorce;
(3)
If the voter dies;
(4)
Upon receiving information that a person has been convicted of an infamous crime as defined by §
40-20-112
from the state coordinator of elections, the district attorney general, United States attorney, clerk of the court that entered the conviction, or other source upon verification by the clerk of the convicting court; or
(5)
Upon written confirmation from the voter that the voter has changed the voter's address to an address outside the county of registration or has registered to vote in another jurisdiction.
(b)
It is the responsibility of the 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. The address verification program shall conform to the intent of this section and this part and the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (
52 U.S.C. § 20501
et seq., formerly
42 U.S.C. § 1973gg
et seq.). The county election commission shall complete the address verification process at least on a biennial basis, but may do so annually. The county election commission shall complete any such process no later than ninety (90) days before a federal election.
(c)
(1)
To identify any voter who has changed the voter's address of residence without notifying the county election commission, the address verification program implemented by the county election commission under subsection (b) may use any of the following, or any combination of the following, sources:
(A)
The return of mail sent by the county election commission to the voter at the voter's address of registration. The mail sent to the voter may include, without limitation, a non-forwardable verification card, a non-forwardable voter registration card, or a notice mailed pursuant to §
2-3-105
or §
2-5-211
;
(B)
The United States postal service's national change of address service;
(C)
Information received from the coordinator of elections as a result of a comparison of voter registration addresses with the residential addresses of record with the department of safety. To conduct the comparison of residential addresses, the department of safety and the coordinator of elections may retrieve the data applicable to the voter's address of residence and match the voter's registration address with data applicable to the voter's matching record with the department of safety. The coordinator of elections may obtain from the department of safety a list of all persons who have surrendered their Tennessee driver license while obtaining a driver license from another state;
(D)
Information received from the coordinator of elections as a result of a comparison of voter registration addresses with the residential addresses of record with another state agency, including, but not limited to, state welfare and public assistance agencies. The coordinator of elections may compare the statewide voter registration database with those of other relevant state agencies and county records for this purpose; and
(E)
Information received from the coordinator of elections as a result of a comparison of voter registration addresses to commercially available data, such as data from credit agencies.
(2)
If, as a result of the address verification program, the county election commission determines that a voter may have changed the voter's address of residence, the administrator of elections shall mail a forwardable confirmation notice to the voter at the address of registration with a postage prepaid, pre-addressed return form on which the voter may verify or correct the new address information.
(d)
Upon the mailing of a notice pursuant to subsection (c), the administrator of elections shall place the registration in inactive status and then take one (1) of the following steps as appropriate to the response of the voter or the failure of the voter to respond to the notice:
(1)
If the voter returns the form or otherwise notifies the election commission in writing and indicates that there is in fact no change in address, the voter's registration will be returned to active status;
(2)
If the voter returns the form or otherwise notifies the election commission in writing and indicates a new address within the county of current registration, the voter's registration will be updated to reflect the new address of residence;
(3)
If the voter returns the form or otherwise notifies the election commission in writing and indicates a new address in another county, the administrator of elections shall remove the voter's name from the voter registration rolls, and shall advise the voter how to register in the new county of residence;
(4)
If a voter fails to respond to a confirmation notice and the voter in fact does not have a new address or has a new address within the same precinct, the voter may appear at the voter's polling place and vote in any election held between the time the notice was sent and the second regular November election held after the notice was sent. When appearing to vote, the person will be required to make written affirmation on the affidavit as described in §
2-7-140
and vote according to the procedures outlined in that section;
(5)
If a voter fails to respond to a confirmation notice and if the voter has changed the voter's address of residence to an address within the same county but in another precinct, the voter may correct the registration and vote at the appropriate polling place for the voter's new residence in any election held between the time the notice was sent and the second regular November election held after the notice was sent. When appearing to vote, the person will be required to make written affirmation on the affidavit as described in §
2-7-140
and vote according to the procedures outlined in that section;
(6)
If a voter fails to respond to a confirmation notice and if the voter has changed the voter's address of residence to an address outside the county of registration, the voter may not vote until such voter becomes properly registered in the new county of residence except as provided in §
2-7-115
; and
(7)
A voter may use a response to a confirmation notice to update the voter's registration to reflect a change in the voter's name.
(e)
If the voter fails to respond to the confirmation notice, does not appear to vote, and does not update the voter registration between the time the notice is sent and the second regular November election held after the notice was sent, the administrator of elections shall purge the voter's registration.
(f)
Notwithstanding anything in this section to the contrary, the administrator shall send a voter's registration card by non-forwardable mail.
(g)
Voter registrations that are inactive pursuant to this section shall not be included in a county's total of registered voters. The administrator shall maintain a separate total of voters on inactive status.
(h)
Any person who intentionally makes a false affirmation pursuant to this section violates §
2-19-107
and shall be punished as provided in §
2-19-107
.
Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 939, s 3, eff. 4/29/2022.
Amended by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 245, Secs.s 1, s 2 eff. 5/2/2017.
Acts 1972, ch. 740, § 1; 1976, ch. 407, § 1; T.C.A., § 2-206; Acts 1981, ch. 345, § 4; 1993, ch. 518, §§ 19, 21; 1994, ch. 947, § 8; 1995, ch. 76, § 2; 1996, ch. 735, §§ 1, 2; 1997 , ch. 550, § 1; 2011 , ch. 161, § 1.