Voting Rights Campaign updates

Our campaign to restore voting rights to 312,000 people with felonies in their past continues to move forward as we enter election season, with work happening all over the state.

We asked candidates for Governor and Secretary of State about where they stand on this issue. Read those responses, and learn more about all of the statewide candidates on the ballot this fall, at our voter guide.

Our work to register and educate voters this year and build our electoral muscles is absolutely key to winning this issue. We plan on registering more than 2,000 voters, and talking with 62,500 voters in the next few months. It’s a big job, but it’s worth it. You can find ways to get involved or support this work here. 

As Central Kentucky KFTC member Arnold Farr recently said, "If I'm serious about democracy and fairness I have to get over my hang ups about being shy or not wanting to talk to people."  

We had two Voting Rights workshops at the KFTC Annual Meeting at the beginning of the month, planned and led by three people currently being denied the right to vote.  Most participants at the workshop pledged to circulate our voting rights petition at events and among friends between now and the election and pledged to reach specific numbers of signers.  In all, members at the training pledged to get 1,421 people to sign the petition in the next few months.

Can you pitch in and help?  You can download and print the petition here.

WMMT in Whitesburg did a Restorative Justice program that included interviews of KFTC members Debbie Graner & Corey Logan  talking about their fights to get the right to vote back. It’s a good program, but if you want to skip straight to the Voting Rights piece, it’s at 18:30.

There was a good piece in the Herald-Leader recently by William Rone talking about losing his right to vote in Kentucky. “I moved to Kentucky and lost my right to vote. I will never truly be free without it.” 

The Courier Journal hired an investigative journalist with an emphasis on getting deep into the Voting Rights issue. We had a good initial conversation with him, and he’s talking to a few other groups working in this issue.  

The Kentucky History Center is organizing an exhibit on Voting Rights next year including a historical perspective of Kentucky women fighting for suffrage, black Kentuckians fighting for the right to vote, and people with felonies in their past fighting for the right to vote today. They came out to the KFTC Annual Meeting to conduct some interviews as part of the ongoing process.  

We’ve done powerful field work to identify supporters of this issue at many events in Lexington, Frankfort, Northern Kentucky, Southern Kentucky, and more, and have already gotten hundreds of petitions signed. There are many upcoming events related to Voting Rights. Here are three big ones to come out for:

• Lexington Roots and Heritage Festival - September 6-8
• Singing for Democracy in Erlanger - September 28
• Rally for Recover in Louisville - September 29