Meeting with Senator Jack Westwood - Voting Rights

KFTC members and friends in Northern Kentucky met with Senator Jack Westwood today about our campaign to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society. 

KFTC member Tayna Fogle scheduled the event, and included over a dozen others, including several former felons and others in substance abuse recovery who told their own personal stories about recovery and the importance of being connected to the community through voting.

I'm a crime and punishment conservative... but my point of view on this issue has changed a lot," said Westwood, "and you could probably thank Tayna for that."

"It's okay to be tough on crime," countered Charlotte Wethington of Northern KY PAR.  "But these aren't criminals.  They're people who have served their time and it doesn't make sense to put up another roadblock between them and recovery." 

Westwood nodded.

As many people started to tell their stories, the sense of family and community in the room was clear.  Eyes teared up and voices cracked sometimes, but everyone said a little about themselves and many people told powerful stories about family, the road to recovery, challenges, and a need to be a part of the greater community and to make a difference.

We are an empowered group of people.  We have our stories and they're powerful - and no one can take them away from us."  - Charlotte Wethington

"Everyone should be able to voice their opinion.  Everyone." - Jessica Marksberry

"I was using drugs and didn't know how to stop, so I called the police on myself... It's been a long road, but now I'm learning how to be a daughter and a friend and a citizen.  Voting is a part of that.  It can be hard to do the right thing, but when you do it, you should be able to vote.  - Amber Woosley

"Recovery is the hardest thing I've ever done.  This place saved my life" - Nikki Fox

"I am a felon with hopes of being a FORMER felon soon, and it's really important to me to be involved in the community.....and I am,..but not fully because I can't vote.  If I could, I think I could help make my community a better place." - Sheri Hyden

Senator Westwood was clearly impressed, taking a lot of time to hear stories and connect with people.

I'm proud that there are people here fighting to get the right to vote.  Not enough people take voting seriously and I think it says a lot about you that you do." - Senator Jack Westwood

In the end, Senator Westwood said that he was "highly likely" to vote in favor of our voting rights legislation.

This legislative meeting was part of a broader effort to encourage our members to meet with legislators outside of the General Assembly - particularly Senators who are key to our voting rights campaign.  So far, we've done a great job, with multiple meetings most weeks, but there's a lot more to go.

Please consider setting up a meeting with your local KY Senator and/ or Representative.  Work with your local KFTC Organizer to coordinate the meeting and bring other members into the process too.

You can get contact information for your local Senator and Representative on the LRC's website Here.

Special thanks to the Brighton Recovery Center for Women for hosting the meeting and to many residents for participating.

NOTE - Were still having our Voting Rights Hearing tomorrow in Frankfort at 1pm Eastern time.  We'll be live-blogging from the hearing, so please visit our blog to follow-along.