Healthy Democracy Update - Phone and Text

In terms of legislative outcomes in this moment, our Healthy Democracy work is really struggling right now.  Our bill to restore voting rights for people with felonies in their past (HB 232) has broad bipartisan support and we’ve helped recruit 16 co-sponsors to the bill, but it’s not even been assigned to committee.  

Likewise, our endorsed bills around redistricting process, same-day voter registration, early voting, voting by mail, keeping polls open until 7pm, etc. have not gotten far.

In terms of our work, though, we’ve managed to build and use a lot of power by reaching out to constituentsdirectly through phone and text.

Over the course of two big pushes, 24 volunteers in KFTC and KUUJAN (Kentucky Unitarian Universalist Justice Action Network) made 2,090 calls, left 418 voice mails, had, 285 phone conversations, and 10,330 texts talking to people about restoration of voting rights for people with felonies in their past, identifying supporters, and connecting them to the legislative message line.

"I worked with KFTC and KUUJAN to call people about voting rights because it's so important.  It's really gratifying when you get to reach someone who's maybe alone or bored and you get to really connect with them around a shared value.  Sometimes we all feel alone in moments like this, but we can feel less alone through action."  Lisa Dalporto, Warren County, Kentucky

Action - Please call the Kentucky Legislative Message line at  1-800-372-7181 to leave a message for members of the House “Committee on Committees” and ask them to assign HB 232 to committee.