Voting Rights Update - And please call in today!

We've gotten some good media coverage in recent days including a strong editorial in support of HB 70 in the Courier Journal, and a good story, also in the Courier, that included an interview of KFTC member and former felon spokesperson Jason Smith. 

These pieces, plus a similar editorial in the Herald-Leader, are good on balance, but problematic in that they try to reduce the fight to Democrat vs. Republican or Conservative vs. Liberal. 

Many strong supporters of HB 70 are Republicans - including former felon spokespeople, co-sponsoring legislators, and legislators in both chambers who support the bill.  The people preventing it from being voted on are just a handful of Senate leaders like Sen David Williams and Sen Damon Thayer.  

So we'll have to try hard to challenge this kind of narrative in the media and in the public. 

Also of note in the Courier Journal article is an indication from David Williams' office that HB 70 might be assigned to Senate Judiciary instead of to State and Local Government.   This may or may not be true

For the time being, though, our bill is still in the House awaiting a vote on the House floor.  Until it passes, it's likely to attract unfriendly amendments to make the bill less effective. 

We need you to call in as soon as possible to build the support we need to pass the House!

Please call the the toll-free Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181 and leave a message for your Senator and Representative, plus "House Leadership."

A simple message like "Please pass HB 70 with no floor amendments" works fine. 

You can call back later and also leave messages for groups like "Senate Leadership" "members of Senate Judiciary" and "members of the Senate State and Local Government Committee."

For them, a message like "Please support HB 70" works.

It just takes a couple of minutes and that will leave a message for many key legislators all at once. 

The Message line is open 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday and until 6 p.m. on Friday.

And finally, our big Voting Rights Lobby Day and Rally for March 8th.  Spread the word!