Call to action: Let Us Vote!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 10, will be a big day for HB 70, a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to nearly a quarter million Kentuckians. Here’s how you can take action:

1. Attend a hearing and show your support for HB 70 on Tuesday, February 10 at 8:30 a.m. in Room 171 of the Capitol Annex in the House Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments. Please help us fill the room with voting rights supporters!

2. Join us later that day for a weekly prayer vigil from 10-11 a.m. on the second floor of the Capitol Annex outside the offices of Senate leaders. People of all faith traditions are welcome. Please join us as we share testimony, offer prayers and songs of redemption and liberation, and stand together against injustice. Note this time is different from our regular vigil time in order to accommodate a Black History Month celebration in the Capitol Rotunda at 11:30 a.m.

3. Whether or not you can make it to Frankfort on Tuesday, please take a moment to call the legislative message line (1-800-372-7181) and leave a message for Senate President Robert Stivers and your own Senator: “Please support House Bill 70 and the restoration of voting rights in Kentucky. It is time to Let Us Vote.”

For almost a decade, KFTC members, our allies and many legislators have been working to win passage of a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to nearly a quarter million Kentuckians. Kentucky is one of just a small handful of states that permanently takes away the right to vote from anyone convicted of a felony, unless they receive a pardon from the governor. In a majority of states, voting rights are automatically restored when people are released from prison or off parole. Kentucky’s lifetime voting ban for people with felony convictions is embedded in outdated language in our state constitution.

As a result, the population of voting age citizens who cannot vote in Kentucky is larger than Bowling Green, our third largest city. Shamefully, our state has the second highest rate of African-American disenfranchisement in the country.  

Voting Rights Lobby Day and Rally

In addition to taking action on Tuesday, February 10, please mark your calendar and join us for our Voting Rights Lobby Day and Rally on Thursday, February 26. And we’d be thrilled to see you each Tuesday in February from 12 to 1 p.m. at the weekly prayer vigil outside the offices of Senate leaders.

Thanks!