HB 2304 / SB 2564

This bill repeals Tennessee’s pilot “convenience voting” centers that currently allow any registered voter in a county to cast an early ballot at any location. In their place, it tightens early voting by requiring each satellite site to serve no more than four precincts, to be evenly spread across the county, and to use secure, serialized, watermarked hand-marked paper ballots. Voters must check in at a precinct-specific station, and ballots collected at each satellite must be kept separate by precinct and scanned only on precinct-designated optical scanners or deposited in secure precinct-specific ballot boxes. Early voting ends at the close of the statutory period, and on election day every voter returns to their home precinct.

By mandating precinct-based check-in and ballot segregation, the measure aims to eliminate the risk of co-mingled ballots and curb potential confusion or fraud associated with convenience centers. The coordinator of elections will adopt rules to ensure proper equipment, chain-of-custody procedures, and the secure return and storage of scanners or ballot boxes until official tabulation. These provisions take effect immediately upon enactment.