Court halts injunction, says some may vote provisionally

A court of appeals has halted most of an injunction issued last week against the Shelby County Election Commission.

The order from the Court of Appeals of Tennessee at Jackson says people who correct incomplete registration applications on Election Day will cast provisional ballots, not vote on a machine.

“That means that anyone who cures a deficiency on Election Day will not vote on a machine,” said Linda Phillips, administrator of elections for Shelby County. “We are encouraging everyone, especially those people who need to cure deficiencies on their voter registration forms to vote early.”

Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins had ruled last week against the commission in a lawsuit by the Tennessee Black Voter Project and the Memphis NAACP. Then, he ruled that voters with incomplete forms should be allowed to correct any errors and vote by machine ballot on Election Day.

The court of appeals did uphold a portion of Jenkins’ ruling that ordered the commission to send notices to people about their registration status and how to correct incomplete forms. Phillips said that is something the election commission was already doing.

Alexander Wharton, attorney for the Tennessee Black Voter Project, said he

was disappointed that people will have to use provisional ballots, but glad the court upheld the requirement for the commission to notify people of their right to correct incomplete applications.

"There’s still work to be done," Wharton said. "I think we’re halfway there.”

Wharton said his biggest concern is that people are told exactly how to fix an incorrect or incomplete registration so they don't make the same mistake on the application on Election Day, possibly invalidating their provisional ballot.

“That eviscerates the purpose of a provisional ballot because I’m still making the same mistake," Wharton said. "To cure that defect I need to know exactly what that was in the first place that made my additional application defective."