Happy Friday! It was the first full week of the POPVOX/TN pilot and the first week of early voting in Tennessee.
POPVOX/TN Update
We started our launch week with the week at the Howard Baker Center for Public Policy at UTK. (Check out former Senator Baker’s “Baker’s Dozen” rules for herding cats and running the U.S. Senate.) We’re headed to downtown Memphis and the UofM Law School on Monday to round out the road trip.
POPVOX in TN press: POPVOX got a mention in the Knoxville News-Sentinel,the legendary TN politics blog, “Humphrey on the Hill,” and the Tennessee Bar Association site. Thanks for the coverage!
Most active TN issue this week: The most active issue for the first week of POPVOX/TN was (narrowly) Medical Marijuana. ADD YOUR VOICE.
TN: Election 2016
- Early voting started Monday: Records broken in Knox County, long lines in Nashville, “heavy” turnout in Blount County, “big” turnout in Roane County, “strong and steady” in Bedford County and “brisk” in Williamson County.
- Secretary of State Tre Hargett dismissed “election rigging” concerns, promised “clean, transparent election.”
“He noted that neither the state nor county voting systems are online, making them difficult for hackers to attack.” — Chattanooga Times Free Press
- There will be fewer trained election observers this year due to Supreme Court opinion, Shelby County v. Holder, that invalidated parts of the the Voting Rights Act.
Education/TN
The state’s Social Studies standards are up for review and revision. Share your views at apps.tn.gov/tcas/ or by emailingTNStandards.Review@tn.gov.
- Deadline for social studies public comments extended from October 28 to December 15.
- Among the proposals: removing TN music history requirements for 5th grade
- Memphis writer says Fayette and Haywood County “Tent City” history “most glaring omission” from proposed standards.
ICYMI/TN
- Tennessee is one of seven states that automatically bars people under guardianship or deemed mentally incompetent from voting.
- Tennessee attorneys donate 500,000+ hours annually to pro bono work.
- Nashville’s highways are among the nation’s deadliest. TDOT is holding public meetings on plans for I-65 corridor.
- State Library & Archives are coming to Jackson to digitize World War I documents and photos.
- Tennessee tax revenues beat September projections by $108M.
- Nashville attorney and DA are helping expunge criminal records of Tennesseans charged with violating the state’s “Homosexual Practices Act” before the law was invalidated by a court in 1996 (and later found to violate the U.S. Constitution).
- A Michigan-based law firm has agreed to represent Tennessee for free in a suit against the federal government over refugee resettlement policies. (TN Senate passed resolution to bring the suit. TN attorney general declined. TN House has not acted.)
- Have you seen this Maury County man on CNN and MSNBC? He’s getting a lot of attention this election cycle!
