"Get out of the way, here they come!"

The Central Kentucky chapter has been looking for something that they could do locally around voting rights to supplement KFTC's lobbying efforts in Frankfort. After some discussion, the members chose to focus on educating the urban county council about voting rights and to see if they'd be willing to pass a resolution in favor of returning the right to vote to former felons who had served their debt to society.

They had their first lobby meeting this morning with Vice Mayor Linda Gorton. The KFTC members who went were Christian and LaTanya Torp, Abigail Dority, Greg Capillo and Erika Skaggs. Their purpose was to talk to the vice mayor about KFTC's work over the last six years around voting rights and to share with her some of their ideas about working with the city council on the issue. Here is some of what they learned:

1. The vice mayor appreciated that they came to talk with her about this campaign so that she'd have a better understanding about what is going on.
2. In Lexington, in order to pass a resolution you have to get at least one council person to put it on the agenda for a council meeting. It then gets two readings that are generally two weeks apart. The public is welcome to come and make comments at both readings. In order for it to pass it must receive a majority vote.
3. Council members will be particularly interested in how voting rights affects people in Fayette County and maybe even in their districts. They'll also be curious about how this issue is handled in different states.
4. Lexington was the first city in Kentucky to pass a Fairness ordinance and an indoor smoking ordinance.
5. Gorton urged us to meet with all of the members on the council and stressed that resolutions have died in the past because folks didn't do enough groundwork educating the council members ahead of time.

It was an incredibly productive meeting and gave the chapter some very clear next steps. The members also handled the conversation beautifully. Abigail talked about how her brother served part of his prison sentence in Kentucky and actually petitioned to have his parole served in Wisconsin where he would be able to vote. Latanya talked about her neighbors on Ohio Street in north Lexington who don't get involved in community activism because they're former felons and feel excluded from society.

Gorton also mentioned several times how much she appreciates how KFTC will work to educate people like herself, and jokingly said in reference to KFTC, "Get out of the way, here they come!"

Over the summer the chapter will continue to meet with Lexington council members to talk about how important it is that everyone be able to vote. If you're interested in getting involved then please contact local organizer Ondine Quinn at [email protected] or 859-276-0563.