HB851 SB1029 / Requires overseas voters to have lived in Tennessee and have a plan of returning to the state

Amendment Update:
This bill takes out wording in our current law for someone who has never resided in Tennessee to request a UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) ballot. This bill does not make any changes for eligible military or overseas citizen meeting the criteria defined by the state Constitution or our current law to request a UOCAVA ballot.

Currently, Tennessee is one of 37 states that allows someone who has never resided in the state to apply and receive a UOCAVA ballot when they meet certain other criteria. Some of the local elections in our counties are decided by very small margins and those races should not be decided by allowing someone who has never resided in Tennessee to cast a vote.

Original Analysis:
This supports the definitions and procedures in Tennessee’s Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) framework that are already in the Constitution. It defines “civilian overseas voters,” “federal-only voters,” and “military voters,” and requires each to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship—and, for overseas voters, proof of an overseas residence—when they submit a temporary voter registration. If an application is missing required information, county election commissions must notify the applicant of the deficiency and document their outreach efforts; if an application is denied, the commission must send and retain a written denial notice for two years.

The legislation further specifies that an overseas absentee ballot application cannot be accepted if the underlying registration was rejected for lack of required proof, though ballots cannot be thrown out simply because identifying data don’t match. Instead, a provisional ballot process is provided to allow the voter to cure discrepancies by affidavit and documentation. The bill also directs the Secretary of State to build an electronic portal by which military and overseas voters can apply digitally, track their ballot status, and access the official UOCAVA affidavit created by the Coordinator of Elections.

Finally, the act sets a firm deadline: all UOCAVA ballots and affidavits must be received by the county election commission by the close of polls on election day. The fiscal note anticipates roughly $800,000 of one-time state spending to build the portal and modest, recurring local costs for notifications—costs the Legislature must share under the state constitution when mandating new county expenditures.