Herald-Leader Editorial in Support of Voting Rights

The Lexington Herald-Leader ran a story today, echoing the Courier article from yesterday and supporting restoration of voting rights for former felons who have served their time - this, a few days after the Herald ran an incredibly low-brow AP story focusing on "murderers and rapists" that seemed to be designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. 

Lexington Herald-Leader Editorial

Gov. Steve Beshear has taken an important step by making it possible for more Kentuckians to vote.

Who would think it would be possible for a governor to prevent people from voting, but that's the way it works here.

Kentucky is one of 10 states in which a felony conviction carries with it a lifetime loss of voting rights. Only the governor can restore those rights, according to our constitution.

For years, governors have routinely done just that when people who had served their time asked to vote again.

Proponents argue that a citizen who has served out a sentence and has been restored to the community should be able to exercise one of our most basic rights. Released felons pay taxes and so deserve a say in representation.

But former Gov. Ernie Fletcher had different ideas. He required an essay and three letters of recommendation before he would even consider restoring voting rights. As a result, fewer Kentuckians regained their right to vote.

The disenfranchisement falls disproportionately on some groups. One in four Kentucky African-American adults is banned from the polls by this policy, according to a 2006 Kentucky League of Women Voters study...

Read the Complete Herald-Leader Editorial Here.

Note that whereas the above editorial is would be correct in saying that Kentucky is one of ten states that takes away voting rights from some former felons, we are in fact one of only two sates in which all former-felons lose the right to vote unless those rights are restored by the Governor.