§ 2-2-138 — Voter registration lists - Purchase by citizens

(a) In counties of this state having a population in excess of one hundred eighty thousand (180,000), according to the United States census of 1970 or any subsequent United States census, or in any computerized county, it is the duty of the county election commission to prepare or cause to be prepared each month a listing, by voting precinct, of all persons registered to vote in each precinct during the preceding month. However, in the discretion of the commissioners of the county election commission, such listing may be prepared on a bimonthly basis. (b) (1) Such list, and any other voter registration information such as voter history, if compiled, shall be available for purchase for a price not to exceed the cost of production. This list shall be available to any person who certifies on a form provided by the state election commission that such list will be used for political purposes. The state election commission shall establish a uniform cost for this information. Any county election commission whose cost of production exceeds this rate may petition the state election commission and be granted an increase upon establishing its actual cost to the satisfaction of the state election commission. If the information is provided on computer generated media such as disk, diskette, tape, telecommunications or any other form of magnetic media, then the information shall be provided in non-proprietary and non-encrypted form. Minimum data standards shall be EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code), ASCII (American Standard Code Information Interchange) or BCD (Binary Coded Decimal). (2) The list, and any other voter registration information, shall be the property of the county election commission and the state. Any vendor of the county election commission having access to the voter registration data shall only use such data to service the county election commission and shall be prohibited from using such data other than for purposes of assisting the county election commission and the coordinator of elections. Non-authorized use by the vendor of the data shall constitute a Class B misdemeanor and grounds for decertification by the state election commission. (c) The county election commission in counties with a population over two hundred fifty thousand (250,000), according to the 1980 census shall make voter registration lists available for purchase by any interested citizen, upon request and payment of the cost, at a price not in excess of the cost to prepare and publish such lists. The county election commission in counties with a population over two hundred fifty thousand (250,000), according to the 1980 census shall act upon such request within seven (7) days of receipt of the request, and reasons for rejection or modification of such request, if any, shall be set out in writing. (d) (1) Any computerized county, as defined in § 2-1-104(a) , shall make the list required by this section available on computer diskette to any person who certifies on a form provided by the state election commission that such list will be used for political purposes. (2) A false certification made pursuant to this subsection (d) is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable only by a fine of five hundred dollars ($500). (e) Any list of registered voters compiled by the coordinator of elections shall be sold at a price established by the secretary of state. Any money received by the secretary of state from the sale of such lists shall be deposited in the voting machine loan fund established in § 2-9-114 . This list shall be available for purchase to any person who certifies on a form provided by the state election commission that such list will be used for political purposes only.

Legislative History

Amended by 2014 Tenn. Acts, ch. 880, s 2, eff. 5/1/2014. Acts 1972, ch. 675, § 1; T.C.A., § 2-238; Acts 1981, ch. 478, § 7; 1993, ch. 379, § 2; 1994, ch. 919, § 32; 1995, ch. 196, § 1; 2000, ch. 756, § 3; 2002, ch. 694, § 1; 2008 , ch. 928, § 6.