Voter ID laws and states purging voters from the voting rolls has emerged as a major issue the current election cycle.
Florida has led the way in announcing plans to purge thousands of voters form the state voting rolls in the face of a Department of Justice lawsuit.
But there is more controversy in Tennessee, and this time it is a purging of a different nature.
State Democrats brought a federal lawsuit against Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R-Tenn.), but have admitted the current voter purge could be a mistake, because Democrat, Republican and Independent voters have all been affected.
The state of Tennessee has agreed to stop and wait until after the 2012 fall elections in order to purge inactive state voters from their rolls.
Under Tennessee law, the local county election commissions can purge voters who have not voted in the last two federal elections and not responded to a confirmation notice.
According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tennessee State Democratic Leader Jim Kyle requested the state examine the purging of over 11,000 Tennessee voter history files that have been deleted without any probable cause.
Voter ID files have been a real problem in Tennessee, where history files have turned up missing in 69 Tennessee counties.
The most egregious of these voter purges took place in Davidson County, where over 3,000 voter files have been purged. There have also been 488 voters purged in Shelby County and 527 voters in Hamilton County.
Elections Coordinator Mark Goins sent a letter to Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester last week stating that the situation would be looked in to if “Democrats provided the names and the methodology used to compare files,” according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
