The Tennessee House approved legislation directing the secretary of state's office to develop a portal to verify voter eligibility — including citizenship and felony-disqualification status — before a person is allowed to register to vote, sponsor Leader Lambeth said on the floor.

Leader Lambeth said the portal responds to incidents his office cited in which convicted felons had been registered to vote in a county; he described the portal as a front-end check intended to reduce inadvertent illegal registrations and the resulting prosecutions. He said the system would allow people whose records indicate a question to provide documentation to the secretary of state or their local election office to resolve eligibility before casting ballots.

Members raised concerns about accuracy and the risk of wrongly preventing eligible voters from registering. Representative Pearson said that the federal decennial census is an intensive, resource-heavy operation carried out to maximize inclusion and asked whether the University-based estimates the bill would allow the state to use could replicate that level of effort. Chairman Clemens and others sought assurances the portal would not wrongly purge lawful voters and asked whether federal agencies would share citizenship data with the state portal.

Leader Lambeth said the portal would be used by election officials (the coordinator of elections and the secretary of state’s office) rather than being public, and that counties and municipalities could still perform a special census or provide documentation to correct any mistaken exclusions. He also said the portal would be developed over time and that due-process safeguards would let people contest any erroneous determination.

The House passed House Bill 69 after committee amendments on the floor. The transcript shows the House recorded the passage and the roll call was announced on the floor (the body recorded the vote as passing by the House; the transcript roll indicates 77 ayes, 18 nays when the result was read on the floor). Supporters portrayed the measure as a targeted tool to protect election integrity; opponents warned it could deter eligible voters and create administrative burdens.

Direct quotes:
"We want lawful voters," Leader Lambeth said when explaining the portal. "We just don't want anybody who's not lawfully allowed to vote to be able to do so."

Representative Pearson said: "My concern really does come from the possibility of preventing people who might otherwise be eligible to vote from being able to access the ballot."

What’s next: The House adopted the state-and-local government committee amendments on the floor and passed the measure; the bill will be enrolled and transmitted as required.