Voting rights hearing in Frankfort today

Below are some live notes about today's hearing on the Restoration of Voting Rights Amendment (House Bill 70) before the Joint Taskforce on Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs.

12:55 p.m. - KFTC members and our allies in the Restoration of Voting Rights Coalition are gathering in the committee room right now.  We make up a majority of the audience at the moment, but the room is only about 1/3 full.

1:03 p.m. - Senators and House members are slowly making their way into the meeting room.  They don't seem to be in any hurry to start on time.  There are about 9 of them here right now.

1:06 p.m. - I just got passed an agenda for the meeting. It looks like our bill is going to be the 2nd of 3 bills heard this afternoon.

1:08 p.m. - The hearing has begun.  The chair has pushed the discussion on our bill to the end of the meeting since a presenter for one of the other bills has to leave early.

1:10 p.m. - Secretary of State Trey Grayson is presenting a bill he is proposing to allow for early voting.

1:31 p.m. - It looks like we have about 16 Senators and Representatives here now.

1:51 p.m. - Grayson has finished giving his testimony and now Sarah Jackson with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance is presenting information about how new candidates for political office can become official candidates.

2:06 p.m. - We've started!  Rep Crenshaw is explaining the bill and how it would restore people's voting rights.

2:09 p.m. - Father Delehanty with the Catholic Conference is now giving his testimony.  He is explaining that a number of other faith organizations support the bill including the KY Council of Churches.

2:11 p.m. - "Exercising the right to vote is a sacred and moral obligation"

2:15 p.m. - Public Advocate Ed Monahan is presenting now.  Voting rights correlates with a lower recidivism rate.

2:18 p.m. - Tina Halbig with the League of Women Voters, 1/4 in the African Americans in KY cannot vote.   The UN supports re-enfranchisement.  "Voting is the most fundamental expression of citizenship."

2:25 p.m. - Raoul Cunningham with the Kentucky NAACP.  Even though we have passed the bill twice before the House, the Senate has never heard the bill.

2:29 p.m. -They are taking questions now.  Rep Fischer: This bill excludes murderers, but soes this it also exclude attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, etc?  Crenshaw: It would not exclude them.

2:34 p.m. - Rep Fischer: Why shouldn't Beshear just issue an executive order to fix this instead of having a constitutional amendment? Crenshaw: That would not eliminate the issue, future governors could rescind that order.

2:36 p.m. - Rep Gibson: Asking for some clarification on our numbers.

2:40 p.m. - Sen. Carroll: We have changed our laws to create more felonies (and more non-voters) in the state of KY.  "I support the amendment"

2:42 p.m. - The meeting has adjourned.