Posted by: KFTC Staff on February 19, 2020
With information from the Campaign Legal Center's RestoreYourVote.org tool, KFTC has developed a decision tree to use in the field to help people determine if Governor Andy Beshear's Executive Order restoring voting rights to 140,000 Kentuckians applies to them. Here's a link to the PDF and an image of it is below.
Click the image to enlarge
Posted by: KFTC Staff on February 12, 2020
Solar panels were recently installed on KFTC’s main office in London. This was the final step in a series of energy upgrades that the building had been undergoing in the last several months, which puts the office building on track to be completely solar-powered.
Posted by: Joe Gallenstein on February 10, 2020
The Northern Kentucky chapter hosted their first Coffee For The Commonwealth in January, inviting legislators representing Kenton County to meet for coffee with constiutents in an informal setting
Posted by: KFTC Staff on February 6, 2020
Over 36 hours, we had three big voting rights events – a Voting Rights Lobby Day, a Criminal Justice Panel Discussion, and a Press Conference for HB 6.
Voting Rights Lobby Day
In all, we had 34 documented meetings with legislators, 8 lobby teams, and 28 grassroots lobbyists plus the Kentucky Council of Church's great Prayer Day of Action on Voting Rights and 60 UFCW workers there who talked to legislators about HB 6 as a part of their meetings.
Our members built up their confidence in speaking truth to power and we had frustrating and yet valuable conversations with foes and allied legislators alike.
We got a lot done today and we can build on it. Come join us in Frankfort to continue the work!
Posted by: KFTC Staff on January 23, 2020
KFTC members were in Frankfort and on the phones yesterday to fight Senate Bill 2, a photo voter ID law designed to make it harder for some Kentuckians to vote by creating new hurdles for them. It’s especially troubling for young, elderly, low income and people of color communities – people who are less likely to have or need a photo ID.
SB 2 is supposed to make it harder for people to impersonate someone else on election day. But even the bill's supporters at the hearing couldn't come up with even one example this century of any time anyone tried to do that in Kentucky.
To address this non-existent problem, they’re trying to pass a complicated 66-page bill that restructures a lot of our voting process and they’re trying to do it all in a hurry.
We ought to be making it easier for citizens to vote, though, not harder.
Posted by: KFTC Staff on January 13, 2020
Over 40 people from 22 organizations gathered yesterday in Frankfort to celebrate our recent victories around voting rights, come to a shared understanding of Beshear’s executive order, to plan our work in the General Assembly to pass a robust constitutional amendment, and to start to think about how we can work together to register the estimated 140,000 Kentuckians who just regained the right to vote.
Our legislative focus between now and April 15 will be on HB 6, Charles Booker’s bill to restore voting rights to all Kentuckians after they’ve served their time. This bill is still needed because it doesn’t have the same exclusions as Beshear’s Executive order and it would be permanent.
To make a difference in this campaign in just a few minutes, you can call the Legislative Message Line (800-372-7181) and leave a message for your senator and representative, plus House and Senate Leadership to say that you “support HB 6.”
Posted by: KFTC Staff on January 13, 2020
We won a major victory late last year when Governor Andy Beshear signed an executive order restoring the right to vote to an estimated 140,000 people with felonies in their past.
Our allies at the Campaign Legal Center put together a great tool at www.Restoreyourvote.org to help people figure out whether Andy Beshear's Executive Order applies to them.
It asks a series of questions to determine if someone can register to vote, and if so, connects you with an online voter registration portal. For people excluded from the executive order but who have served their time, there's still the option of requesting voting rights through an individual partial pardon from the Governor.
Exclusions in the executive order are:
Posted by: KFTC Staff on January 7, 2020
We don't always get the candidates we want or deserve. Sometimes bad politicians go unopposed on election day or we're forced to choose between the "lesser of two evils." We do the best we can with the candidates we have, keeping our eyes on our vision and longterm meaningful political change, but our voter work sure is more fun and more impactful with great candidates.
We are Kentuckians. We are our own best chance for change. Maybe we're the candidates we've been waiting for. Maybe you know and respect someone who would run for office if you encouraged them to. Maybe it's time that you run for office yourself.
Posted by: KFTC Staff on December 23, 2019
In 2020, all state representative seats and half of our state senate seats are up for lection in addition to all US house of representative seats and one US Senate seat (currently held by Mitch McConnell)
If you're already registered in Kentucky, Monday Dec 31 is the last day top "lock in" your political party choice for purposes of voting in May primary elections for those races or for purposes of becoming a candidate in one of those races.
Posted by: Kentucky Voting Rights Coalition on December 23, 2019
On December 12, Governor Andy Beshear helped Kentucky take a historic step forward. With the twirl of a pen, 140,000 previously disenfranchised members of our commonwealth were re-empowered with the right to vote. Years of conversations, meetings, phone calls, and work by people with felonies in their past created the grassroots support needed to bring us to this moment.
Over a hundred of us attended and cheered as the governor signed the order and stated his support for a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights. There is much to be lauded about this act, including the explicit exclusion of any requirement that fines and fees be paid to qualify for restoration. 140,000 is truly a huge number, and a step towards helping disenfranchised people regain a sense of normalcy within society.
This is what a healthy democracy is about – allowing people who have a stake in the decisions made by elected officials to have a voice in deciding who those officials are. It’s fundamental to who we are as a state and a nation.
We, the Kentucky Voter Rights Restoration Coalition, are a network of 30+ similarly minded community groups working to ensure that every person who is denied the right to vote has that right restored. We believe that once a person has served their time, they have the right to re-engage with society.
