| Restoration of Voting Rights |
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Voting is a fundamental right and a cornerstone of democracy. Kentucky is one of only two states in the country that permanently disenfranchises all individuals with felony convictions, barring over 180,000 individuals from voting—two-thirds of whom have fully served their sentence. One in every 17 adults is ineligible to vote. The rate of disenfranchisement among African-American’s in Kentucky is the nation’s second highest. One in four African-American adults is barred from voting, leaving many communities with severely limited political power. In 2005, the ACLU of Kentucky, along with the NAACP and Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and many others formed the Restoration of Voting Rights Coalition (ROVRC) to demand change. The solution to Kentucky’s restrictive voting restoration policy is an amendment to Kentucky’s Constitution that will remove discretionary power from the Governor and provide automatic restoration after the complete fulfillment of all sentencing requirements. This can only be realized when the state legislature approves a resolution to be placed on a statewide ballot which calls for a change in the state constitution. According to a study done by the University of Kentucky Survey Research Center in the summer of 2006, a significant majority of Kentuckians favor an amendment to the Kentucky Constitution that automatically restores the right to vote to a convicted felon who has completed his or her sentence. |
