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March 20, 2013

The Honorable Tre Hargett
Secretary of State
State of Tennessee

Dear Mr. Secretary of State:

I am writing with concern for the Davidson County Election Commission’s decision requiring the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security to investigate the citizenship of every registered Nashville voter born outside the United States. I therefore urge the Davidson County Election Commission (DCEC) to rescind its decision to require registers voters born outside the United States to be singled out for investigation to prove their right to vote.

I also recommend that when DCEC revisits this vote on March 21, 2013, this legislation would not be advanced.

Thank you for your attention and action.

Sincerely,

(insert your name)

See this information from Nashville 4 All of Us!

Dear Friend,

In 2009, you stood up to make sure that no one in Nashville would face discrimination because of the language they speak. Since that historic vote, we have worked together to keep Nashville a just and welcoming city. Today, we must stand up again to make sure no Nashville citizen is denied the right to vote because of where she was born.

On February 21, the Davidson County Election Commission (DCEC) voted to require the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security to investigate the citizenship of every registered Nashville voter born outside the United States. Everyone who registers to vote affirms that he is a citizen on penalty of perjury. But the DCEC’s new rule means that registered voters will be subject to investigation and made to prove their right to vote just because they were not born in the United States.

Singling out one class of citizens for different treatment because of where they were born is against the law. The Supreme Court holds that naturalized citizenship “is not a second-class citizenship.” Metro’s Department of Law believes that a court will find this policy to violate the Fourteenth Amendment and the National Voter Registration Act. But members of the DCEC are doubling down on this rule.

This policy is wrong. More importantly, it’s not Nashville. We are a world-class city that welcomes newcomers from around the globe. We thrive because of our diversity. We celebrate when our immigrant neighbors become citizens and join us at the polls. We are a Nashville for all of us.

The DCEC will revisit its vote this Thursday, March 21 at 1:00 p.m. Join us at the Metro Office Building, 800 Second Avenue South, Davidson Conference Room 2nd Floor, to tell our Election Commission that this kind of discrimination is wrong for our city. If you can’t be there Thursday, email Secretary of State Tre Hargett at Tre.Hargett@tn.govor (615) 741-2078 or Davidson County Election Administrator Albert Tieche at Albert.Tieche@nashville.gov or (615) 862-8800.

Speak up, Nashville!

Nashville For All of Us Steering Committee