Voting Rights News | Kentuckians For The Commonwealth

Voting Rights News

Outcasts at the ballot box

July 14, 2012 at 04:27pm

The Courier Journal wrote a strong piece today about Voting Rights for former felons and the Sentencing Project report that came out yesterday.

Outcasts at the ballot box

One in five African Americans in Kentucky aren't eligible to vote because of convictions. In Indiana, the number is 2.4%.

Today's voting rights field work in Georgetown

July 12, 2012 at 11:56pm

Today, Scott County KFTC members made it out to a couple of basketball games at the Ed Davis Learning Center as well as a downtown outdoor concert to register voters and talk to people about our campaign to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society.

Voter registration in Lexington

June 11, 2012 at 08:00pm
Central Kentucky

Last week members of the central Kentucky chapter registered voters at the Lexington transit center. The transit center is the hub of public transportation in the city with 25 routes loading and unloading riders every 30 minutes. The transit center is a great place to meet folks and to talk to them about voter empowerment.

voterregjune820122

Voter suppression laws on the rise

June 7, 2012
The Courier-Journal

Efforts to suppress voter participation in this year's important national efforts are on the rise throughout the country, including in Florida where the U.S. Department of Justice has had to intervene. These efforts are directed largely at minorities.

Second Thoughts on Citizens United Decision

May 31, 2012 at 08:00pm

Stevens: Second thoughts likely in Citizens United

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has said he expects the court has already had second thoughts about parts of its controversial Citizens United ruling that eased restrictions on corporate spending in political campaigns.

The sharply divided court ruled that independent spending by corporations does "not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption." Stevens, who dissented from that 2010 decision, said that at some point the court will have to issue an opinion "explicitly crafting an exception that will create a crack in the foundation" of that ruling.

2012 Primary Election "by the numbers"

May 22, 2012 at 08:00pm

459627_10150826393951625_188581021624_10216835_1550827964_o

gIMG_5269

gIMG_5291

GOTV in Whitesburg Office

gIMG_5271

For a primary, yesterday and the weeks leading up to it were a pretty wild ride.  Here's the day "by the numbers"

2,980,009 - Current registered Voters in Kentucky

411,947 - Ballots cast in the Primary*

13.82% - Voter Turnout*

56,236 - Ballots cast in excess of the maximum (12%) turnout predicted by the KY Secretary of State's office.*

56 - Candidates responding to our candidate survey including 13 of 18 Congressional candidates

32 - Calls to that Attorney General's election fraud hotline

196 - Voters registered by KFTC earlier this year while we were mostly focused on citizen lobbying in the General Assembly.

23,513 - Page views on KentuckyElection.org in the month leading to the primary - a record that surpasses our traffic during even the busiest general election from past years. 

17,162 - Voter Guides distributed through mail or at community events in recent weeks. 

1.7 million - Times our voter mobilization advertisement was shown on Facebook to Kentuckians

5,200 - estimated number of KFTC voter mobilization calls to members and friends conducted at phone banks across the state. 

* Based on Unofficial State Board Results

Of course these numbers are skewed towards things that are easy to count and quantify.   There have been so many intangible, powerful results to our work in this primary that aren't nearly so easy enumerate - like leadership development, conversations with neighbors, the power of a former felon telling their story for the first time or a student casting their first ballot. 

It was a tough primary to organize around - with low turnout and a maze of many hundreds of candidates and different election protocols across the state, but KFTC members did a great job!

This election we did an especially good job of integrating strategies and campaigns with our voter work - scheduling events to hit multiple kinds of goals, and leveraging our electoral work more directly to win campaigns.

For all of the results tangible and intangible, thank you to those who made it all possible!

 

*Numbers updated on June 1st to reflect more complete election results from the State Board of Elections. 

Election Day - Polls are now open!

May 21, 2012 at 08:00pm

gIMG_5047It's 6 a.m. and polls are now open in the Kentucky Primary.

So get out there and Vote!

As always, www.KentuckyElection.org has key information about candidate stances, voting locations, links to what your ballot will look like today, and other important information.  Use it to cast an informed vote today and share it with friends!

Election Day is TOMORROW! - KentuckyElection.org, plus

May 20, 2012 at 08:00pm

gIMG_5289Kentucky's Primary Election is tomorrow, Tuesday, May 22nd and polls are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Please take some time today to visit www.KentuckyElection.org to help make a plan to vote tomorrow. 

There, you can find information about your voting location, candidate stances on important issues, and links to external resources.  

Georgetown NAACP Banquet

May 19, 2012 at 08:00pm
Rolling Bluegrass

gIMG_5414Our friends at the Scott County/ Georgetown chapter of the NAACP held their annual banquet last night, bringing out many great friends of social justice organizing and local politicians including Charlie Hoffman and Congressman Ben Chandler.

Over 100 people participated overall and proceeds of the event went to the local NAACP scholarship fund.

Republican Governor of Virginia Pushes to Restore Voting Rights

May 16, 2012 at 08:00pm

35421_1360070120623_1197630007_30870127_3370161_nThere was an interesting Associated Press piece earlier this month about Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell's push to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society. 

Virginia, like Kentucky, is one of four states that takes the right to vote away from all former felons for the rest of their lives even after they've served their debt to society.  

 

Page