Benton County Voter Purge

In April 2010, the Benton County election administrator attempted to purge more than two thousand voters from the rolls. The election administrator, upon taking office, had reviewed all of the voter registration information in his possession and had arbitrarily determined that roughly 2,100 voter registration applications, including some that were over twenty years old, were deficient under state law. The Benton County Election Commission then sent notices to these 2,100 voters informing them that their previous registrations were insufficient and that if they did not come into the office to promptly correct the situation, they risked being purged off of the voting rolls.

ACLU-TN partnered with the Brennan Center to negotiate with the state coordinator of elections and ensure that the mandates of the National Voter Registration Act were followed. We were successful in ensuring that no voter was denied the right to vote because of the arbitrary, and arguably illegal, determinations of this newly-installed elections administrator.

Related Documents

Legal Documents

Letter to State Coordinator of Elections (April 26, 2010)

Letter to Benton County Election Administrator (April 16, 2010)