What This Bill Does

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This legislation updates Tennessee election law to restore in-person, precinct-based voting, in line with the Tennessee Constitution. It repeals “convenience voting” provisions and ensures voters cast ballots only in the precinct where they live.

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Why It Matters

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• Protects election integrity and transparency

• Ensures one voter, one precinct

• Strengthens accountability and public trust

• Applies uniform voting rules statewide​

 

Polling Places

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• Each precinct must have a physical polling location within or as close as possible to precinct boundaries.

• If precincts must share a location:

  • Voters vote separately by precinct

  • Voting areas are clearly marked

  • Ballots are never mixed

• Limits:

  • No more than 5 precincts or 6,000 voters per location

• All precincts maintain uniform days and hours

 

Voter Rolls & Transparency

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• During early voting, poll managers must publish daily lists of voters who voted

• Lists are added to each precinct’s Qualified Voter List

 

Ballot Security

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• Requires hand-marked paper ballots that are:

  • Secure

  • Serialized

  • Watermarked

• Ballots must be:

  • Inventoried daily

  • Issued through precinct-specific check-in

  • Stored, secured, and tabulated by precinct

  • Never co-mingled with other precincts’ ballots​

 

Tabulation & Oversight

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• Ballots are counted and reported by precinct

• Each precinct uses:

  • A precinct-based optical scanner, or

  • A secure ballot box

• Early-voting equipment is returned to the Election Commission and secured until Election Day tabulation

• All ballots are reconciled and signed off by election official

 

Early Voting & Election Day

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• Satellite voting ends with the early voting period

• Election Day voting occurs only in the voter’s home precinct

 

Bottom Line:

This bill restores constitutional, precinct-based voting, strengthens ballot security, and ensures elections are transparent, auditable, and fair.