DeKalb County Election Commission administrator Dennis Stanley recently hosted a town-hall meeting to discuss a new state law requiring voters to present a photo ID at the polls.
The program won't go into effect until next year,
The meeting was held at 6 p.m. last Tuesday  in the basement of the DeKalb County Courthouse.
Stanley, along with a three-person panel consisting of State Representative Teri Lynn Weaver, local election commission  chairman Walteen Parker and Wayne Pruett, Help America Vote Act (HAVA) coordinator for Tennessee, presented a program to help local citizens fully understand the new regulations.
While some residents expressed concern that  a percentage of voters might have difficulty at the polls because of the new law, Pruett told the assembly that with almost a year’s head start before election time, there was plenty of time to iron problems out.
“When we enacted early voting in 1994, we were tossed into election season right away, and all sorts of stories were flying around.” Pruett said. “We have much more time to prepare for this, and should be able to solve many of the problems beforehand.”
Under the new law, voters will be required to produce a federal or state government-issued photo ID at the polls.
A Tennessee driver license, U.S. passport, Department of Safety photo ID card, state or federal employee photo identification card, or a U.S. military photo ID cards will be accepted, even if expired.
College student IDs will not be accepted.
Any voter who does not have a photo ID may obtain one at no charge from any Department of Safety driver license testing station.
Registered voters must sign an affidavit stating that the photo ID is for voting purposes, that they are a registered voter, and that they do not have any other other valid government-issued photo ID.
The Department of Safety will not issue a free photo ID if the person already has a valid government-issued photo ID.
Voters who cannot present a valid photo ID will be allowed to vote a provisional ballot, which is a paper ballot, at the polls. Voters casting a provisional ballot will have until two business days after Election Day to return to the election commission office to show a valid photo ID.
Voters with a religious objection to being photographed, or voters who are indigent and unable to obtain a photo ID without paying a fee - for example, the voter cannot pay for a birth certificate for proof of citizenship - may sign an oath affirming to the information and will be allowed to vote on the machines.
Voters who vote absentee by mail, voters who are hospitalized, and voters who live in licensed nursing homes or assisted living centers and vote at the facilities are not required to show photo IDs.
Registered voters over the age of 65 may request an absentee ballot and vote by mail.
“The goal of the town-hall meeting is to educate the public and prepare voters for the upcoming 2012 elections,” Dennis Stanley, administrator of elections, said.
“We want voters to have plenty of time to obtain a valid photo ID if they do not already possess one.
Driver license stations in 15 counties, including Putnam and Rutherford, will be open on the first Saturday of each month starting Nov. 5 exclusively to make photo driver licenses or Ids for voting purposes.
No other business will be conducted in the centers on these days.
The hours of operation will be 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. in Cookeville at 4600 South Jefferson Avenue, phone number 931-528-5669, or in Murfreesboro at 1035 Samsonite Boulevard, phone number 615-898-8036.
The centers in McMinnville and Lebanon will be open weekdays.
The McMinnville office is located at 594 Vervilla Road. The phone number is 931-668-9304
The station in Lebanon is at 725 Elkins Drive, and the phone number is 615-443-2757.
There are a number of safeguards in the law to ensure eligible voters are not disenfranchised.
The photo ID requirement does not apply to people who vote absentee by mail, people who vote in licensed nursing homes or assisted living facilities, people who are hospitalized, people who have religious objections to being photographed and people who are indigent and cannot obtain photo IDs without paying fees
Voters who forget to bring photo identification to the polls may cast provisional ballots and return to their local election offices with proof of their identities within two business days after elections.
Meanwhile, voters interested in learning more about the Voter Photo I.D. law can now view an online video about the topic.
The Tennessee Division of Elections has created a special web site devoted entirely to the Photo I.D. law and the site includes a video that was shown at town-hall meetings held across the state on Nov. 1.
“The state office and local election offices are looking at every opportunity to inform voters of the new requirements to vote at the polls beginning with elections held in 2012,” said Stanley,  “This site explains the new law and provides examples of the photo identification cards that will be accepted and links to what voters will need to do to obtain an acceptable photo i.d. card for voting purposes.”
Voters can visit  http://www.state.tn.us/sos/election/photoID.htm and click on the video link to view a video presentation by State Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins or click on the “Power Point Presentation” link for a simple page by page explanation of the law along with color photographs of acceptable forms of photo identification.
Voters can also access the web site by logging on to http://www.state.tn.us/sos/election/ and selecting the 2012 Voter Identification Requirements link.
For more information about the new voting requirements, contact Mark Goins, coordinator of elections, or Andrew Dodd, elections specialist, in the state Division of Elections at 1-877-850-4959, or the local election commission at 597-4146, Room 104 of the DeKalb County Courthouse in Smithville.