I got to the Capitol early today, expecting a bit of a battle in the State and Local Government Committee, where several voter ID bills were scheduled to come up. I was not disappointed. Sen. Bill Ketron’s (R-Murfreesboro) is trying to pass a bill that would require everyone who shows up to vote to present a government-issued ID. Several Democrats have concerns this would disenfranchised older voters and are mad that the state would hold absentee voters and election-day voters to a different standard. Sen. Joe Haynes (D-Goodlettsville) is concerned about his 98-year-old mother who has never had a driver’s license. Sen. Thelma Harper (D-Nashville) accused the new election commissioner of being evasive, and Sen. Lowe Finney has tried repeatedly to delay the bill a week. Sen. Ketron wouldn’t budge. It just came to a vote 6-3 in favor, party line vote.
[...] the Bill Ketron sponsored bill emerged from committee with a 6-3 party line [...]
[...] committee meeting any better than Woods at the Scene. Tom Humphrey of the Knox News Sentinel and Cara Kumari of WSMV have more. And as always, there’s big discussion going on over at a Kleinheider [...]