Tennessee - Court Upholds Voter Identification Law - NYTimes.com The Tennessee Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld the state's new law requiring voters to show photo identification at polling places and ruled that election officials must accept an ID issued by the Memphis public library. A three-judge panel of the court ruled unanimously in a case brought by the City of Memphis and two voters who lacked photo ID and cast provisional ballots during the August primary. The opinion said that the identification requirement was allowed under the State Constitution and that the cost of obtaining a birth certificate to get a photo ID did not amount to a poll tax. The court cited Tennessee case law in finding that the City of Memphis is a branch of the state, so the library card, which was redesigned this year to include a photo, is sufficient for proving identity. The Tennessee secretary of state, Tre Hargett, said the library provision would be appealed.