Judge: ID Necessary to Vote Absentee

If you are a new voter that has registered to vote by mail, you will still have to provide proof of identification at your local elections office before getting an absentee ballot.

That after a federal judge announced Wednesday he will not reject three Tennessee absentee ballot regulations amid the COVID pandemic.

Putnam County Administrator of Elections Michele Honeycutt said election officials have to verify the identity of all new voters.

“It really means we haven’t seen that person,” Honeycutt said. “We don’t have any identification on them, so we’re not going to mail them a ballot. We can’t. Anyone who thinks they’re going to need a ballot by mail, if they’ll come in our office, show us their driver’s license or some kind of ID with their name, address, and everything on it, we’ll verify the info.”

Honeycutt said that if anyone registered in another county and have provided proof of identification, they can contact that local election office to have their information transferred to another county.

U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson issued the order on three laws for the August primary including the ID requirement. The second law makes the unsolicited distribution of requests for absentee ballots a misdemeanor. The third law spells out a signature verification process for voters.