Restoration of Voting Rights amendment passes House committee

House Bill 70, the proposed constitutional amendment that would automatically restore voting rights to former felons passed out of the House Elections and Constitutional Amendments committee Tuesday with a vote of 7 in favor and 1 against.  The vote came after brief testimony in favor of passage by representatives of the League of Women Voters and the NAACP, along with Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney David Stengel, and Michael Wilkey, a former felon from Paducah.

The the 8:30 a.m. meeting time did not deter more than 40 KFTC members and other supporters of the bill from all over the state coming at the early hour to fill the room.  Upon passage of the bill the committee room erupted in applause.

Some quotes from the testimony:

It is considerably easier to do something against a society that has excluded you than to a society of which you are a part.

-David Stengel

At one point 48 states had laws restricting the right to vote for felons. Today only two permanently bar all felons from voting.

-Raul Cunningham of the NAACP

Please call the Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181 to thank the following legislators for voting Yes:  Reps. Darryl Owens, Dottie Sims, Larry Clark, Melvin Henley, Kathy Stein, Rob Wilkey, and Mary Lou Marzian.

The bill could come up for a vote in the full House within the next few days, then if successful, move to the Senate.