Critics argued the bill posed an especially big problem for the elderly: A unique Tennessee law allows residents over 60 to get driver’s licenses without a picture. According to state records, more than 230,000 Tennessee seniors have such licenses — 126,000 of whom are registered to vote — meaning they wouldn’t be able to vote with those IDs.
The total number of eligible Tennesse citizens without photo IDs is likely much higher. Voting rights groups like the Brennan Center estimate that up to 10 percent of eligible voters nationally lack photo ID cards. With nearly 3.9 million registered voters, that would translate to more than 380,000 citizens without the needed photo ID in Tennessee.
But a Facing South public information request to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security revealed that only a fraction of the voters who likely need photo ID cards to vote are getting them.
In an email to Facing South, Jennifer Donnals of the department stated, “As of Monday, July 9 our department had issued 20,923 state IDs for voting purposes to citizens in Tennessee.”
That figure would only cover 17 percent of Tennessee seniors who are registered to vote but lack photos on their driver’s licenses, potentially leaving as many as 100,000 state citizens aged 60 and up without needed identification to vote.