Voting Rights Bill Passes House Committee Unanimously

Our bill to restore voting rights to 186,000 former felons once they've served their debt to society (HB 70) passed the House Elections Committee today with a unanimous 8 "yes" votes (and no "nos" or "abstentions") and strong bi-partisan support.  This moves us towards the House floor for the next step in the process!  We've passed this committee many times, but never this decisively.

Many legislators took the opportunity to explain their vote, making strong statements of support.  Some of the new "yes" votes also spoke to why they've changed their mind.

"We're diligently wearing them down until they do the right thing... It seems to be working."               - KFTC Member Jan Ewing

Please take a moment to call the legislative message hotline at 1-800-372-7181 (the message line is open 7am-11pm) and THANK Representatives Kevin Bratcher, James Comer, Mike Harmon, Darryl  Owens, Ron Weston, Larry Clark,  Melvin Henley, and Mary Lou Marzian for voting yes on HB 70 in Committee.

Testimony for the bill was better than ever with strong statements from:
-Rep Jesse Crenshaw, Sponsor of HB 70
-Raoul Cunningham, Louisville NAACP
-Ed Monahan, Public Advocate, Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy
-Pat Delahanty, Catholic Conference of KY
-Teena Halbig, League of Women Voters
-Janssen Willhoit, Former felon spokesperson and with the Lexington Rescue Mission

Janssen Willhoit's testimony as a former felon was especially powerful in that allowed the voice of someone who has been directly effected by these laws.

We had over 25 supporters of our bill in committee to witness the vote with supportive stickers and to thank legislators, then follow-up our victory by spreading the word throughout the capitol and preparing our supporters for the House floor vote.

Rep Crenshaw and former felon spokesperson and KFTC leader Tayna Fogle was interviewed by Public Radio as well.