Isn't It Time Kentucky Left The Neanderthal Age And Restored Voting Rights To Felons Who Have Served Their Time And Paid All Restitution? Well ... ?

Read the press release below -- you can get more information from Dave Newton below:

Voting Rights Bill Passes House 83-16 (2/10/10)

House Bill 70, a bill to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society passed the House today with a strong 83-16 vote, including substantial majorities from both Republican and Democratic Representatives.

Rep Jesse Crenshaw (D) and Lonnie Napier (R) spoke out strongly on the House floor in favor of the legislation.

This came on the heels of a unanimous yes vote in the House Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee last week.

This is especially exigent to people in Scott County because there is a strong local campaign focused on restoring voting rights there. And local Senator Damon Thayer recently had an op-ed against the legislation. Representative Charlie Hoffman voted for the measure today.

Voting Rights legislation has easily passed the House in the last three General Assemblies – with increasingly larger and larger margins. The bill has stopped in the Senate and never been allowed to be heard – most recently in Senator Damon Thayer’s State and Local Government Committee.

A large coalition of organizations has been working for the last six years to restore voting rights to former felons in Kentucky including labor, grassroots, professional, labor, and religious organizations.

Right now, Kentucky remains one of only two states that disenfranchise all former felons, allowing them back only if they request and receive a pardon from the Governor. This means that 186,000 Kentuckians – or 1/17 of our voting age population - can’t vote.

The Kentucky Voting Rights Coalition supports restoring voting rights to citizens who have a past felony conviction upon completion of their sentence because it is fair, increases democracy, and even reduces crime by reducing recidivism rates (nationally, former felons who vote are half as likely as those who don’t to recidivate).

Here are a few former felons available for quotes and commentary by phone:
Tayna Fogle - 859-699-8073
Janssen Willhoit - 859-967-7250
George Moorman - 859- 806-9388

On March 4th, supporters of voting rights will have a large lobby day and rally in Frankfort, talking to senators and making a space for former felons to tell their stories. The event will culminate in a rally with gospel singing at 1pm.

Background information contacts
Dave Newton, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth - 859-420-8919 - Dave@kftc.org

We can also provide a multitude of local people here in Scott County who would love to comment on this issue.

For more background information, visit http://www.facebook.com/l/d1185;www.kftc.org/votingrights

Released by the Kentucky Voting Rights Coalition - KY NAACP, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, KY AFL-CIO, League of Women Voters of Kentucky, Catholic Conference of KY, AFSCME Council 62, KY Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Addiction Recovery Advocates of Kentuckiana (ARAK), KY Council of Churches, People Advocating Recovery (PAR), KY Mental Health Coalition, Fairness Campaign, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Kentucky, KY Domestic Violence Association, Central KY Council for Peace and Justice, Lexington Diocesan Council for Peace and Justice, Fayette Chapter of The Women’s Network, American Civil Liberties Union of KY, Interfaith Alliance of the Bluegrass (TIA), KY Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials (KBC-LEO), KY Jobs with Justice, KY Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

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