Group urges auto. restoration of felons' voting rights.

The league of women voters wants kentucky to approve a constitutional amendment automatically restoring the voting rights of felons who have completed their sentences. Read the story here. Here are excerpts: “We believe voting is the most fundamental expression of citizenship,” Teena Halbig, president of the Kentucky League, said Thursday during a press conference in the state Capitol rotunda.The Kentucky constitution imposes a lifetime voting ban on ex-felons. Two other states — Virginia and Florida — impose such bans, she said. The only way to get voting rights restored is by gubernatorial pardon. There are now 186,348 Kentuckians who can’t vote because of a felony conviction, according to a new report the League released Thursday. That gives Kentucky the 6th highest rate among the states of voter disenfranchisement, the report says. Kentucky is first in disenfranchisement of African Americans, it says.
Whether or not one is tough on crime, a questioned needs to be asked and answered: What risks do felons, other than those convicted of violating our election laws, pose to the electoral process that it is fundermental that we deny them their rights to vote -- especially in view of the fact that we are continuosly looking for ways to encourage greater participation of the electorate?