KFTC Blog

We've held nine Singing For Democracy Gospel Fests over the last few years to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their time.

The Jefferson County KFTC Chapter had two very successful days of voter registration at University of Louisville, thanks to the organizing efforts of KFTC members Emily Nordling, Elijah McKenzie, and Tim Darst. Emily is a recent U of L graduate and arranged sponsorship for us with the Honors Society, one of the student organizations she has been active with. Elijah is a current U of L student and Bonner Scholar who reached out to Tim, a member and officer of GRASS, an organization of students working to foster environmental sustainability and awareness on campus.  GRASS sponsored a second appearance by our members to register voters on campus.

On September 27, our table sponsored by the Honors Society registered 97 voters, with a good deal of help from Honors Society volunteer Taryn Cantrell.  She says of her experience with us, “It was an amazing experience to register over 100 students, knowing that I made an impact.  Though I did not know much about KFTC before volunteering, I am very glad I got the opportunity to be acquainted because many of its issues and concerns deal with my hometown of Pikeville.  I love my hometown and hope to return there someday to give back to the place that has given so generously to me. ”

Members of the Scott County Chapter of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth were out today at the Festival of the Horse in Georgetown canvassing the crowds and registering more people just days before the Oct 9th deadline. 

We only registered about a dozen voters, but at least twice that many people stopped ut to ask questions about what candidates will be on the ballot, how to cast an absenttee ballot, or about some other election-related question.  Others remembered our Scott County Voter Guide from the primary election and let us know that they're looking forward to receiving one for the General Election.

Last week was our biggest yet in Jefferson County. Thanks to our dedicated members who volunteered, we registered 240 voters! Over a hundred of those registrations came from hitting up grocery stores in the south and west ends of Louisville. As shoppers packed food out, we packed democracy in.

Electoral organizer Beth Bissmeyer shared this story of success not only in numbers, but in spirit:

“Last Tuesday proved to be another good night to go Krogering in Shively; in just a few hours, 28 people registered to vote and several people signed our petition in support of restoring voting rights. For me, the highlight of the evening was a conversation I had with a young woman. When I asked her if she was registered, she said she didn't vote because government doesn't do anything good. We got to talking about issues she cares about including the homeless population, and I told her she could hold her Metro Council representative accountable for local issues, that these people are often at community events and live in the neighborhood. 'I didn't know that I could do that,' she said. You could see that a light bulb just turned on. She started to fill out a registration card and while doing that, she told me about the difficulties her brothers have faced as former felons and how having just a misdemeanor on her file has made finding a good job difficult. I then told her about our work around voting rights and gave her restoration applications for her brothers. While not everyone who tells you they don't vote will experience this kind of turnaround, it's worth a little bit of prodding for the ones who do.”