AP:

Tennessee has begun requiring felons who want their voting rights back to first get their full citizenship rights restored by a judge or show they were pardoned.

Election officials say the step is required after a June court ruling. But attorneys representing the state’s disenfranchised felons accuse officials of searching for ways to suppress Black voters….

The Campaign Legal Center is already suing Tennessee in federal court over the way it implements that law. They argue, among other things, that the state has failed to make clear which officials can sign the necessary forms, provides no criteria for denial, and offers no avenue for appeal. The class action lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in November.