The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security on Thursday announced that 12,571 photo IDs had been issued for voting purposes from July 1 through Jan. 30. The vast majority (11,896) of those issued were non-photo driver licenses converted into photo driver licenses, while 675 were original photo identification cards.
Effective Jan. 1, a new state law requires citizens to present a federal or state-issued photo ID to vote at the polls. The law also requires the Department of Safety and Homeland Security to issue photo IDs for voting purposes at no charge.
“We will only offer Saturday hours for the selected driver service centers twice more before the presidential primary in March,” Department of Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons said. “
Citizens who need a photo ID for voting purposes are encouraged to utilize this special service, as well as our participating county clerk partners during the week.”
The state will open 19 driver service centers on Saturday, for citizens who need a photo ID for voting purposes, and will be open for the final Saturday on March 3 for the purpose of issuing voter photo IDs only.
The driver service centers that will be opened on the first Saturday of February and March are located in the following counties: Davidson (Centennial Blvd. and Hart Lane), Hamilton (both locations), Knox (both locations), Shelby (East Shelby Drive and Summer Avenue), Sullivan, Sumner, Rutherford, Washington, Williamson, Montgomery, Blount, Bradley, Putnam, Greene, and Carter. The centers will be open normal business hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
To minimize the possibility of wait times during Saturday hours, groups or organizations planning to make a group visit to a driver service center should schedule an appointment by calling Linda Cone at 731 225-0924 or Wanda Adams at 615 251-5300.
For more information on the new voter photo ID law, including acceptable forms of photo identification and documents needed to obtain a photo ID for voting purposes, please visit the Department of Safety and Homeland Security’s website at www.tn.gov/safety.