Most Kentucky felons would have voting rights restored under new bill

Most convicted felons in Kentucky would have their voting rights automatically restored after completing their sentences, parole and probation under a bill filed Friday in the state Legislature.

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, would place a constitutional amendment before voters in a state with one of nation's highest rates of residents barred from voting.

Nearly one in 10 Kentucky residents, and one in four African-Americans, can't vote because of felony convictions, according to the Sentencing Project, a research and advocacy group that studies incarceration and criminal justice racial disparities.

That equates to roughly 312,000 disenfranchised Kentuckians, including nearly 69,000 African Americans, according to the Sentencing Project.

Those convicted of murder, certain sex crimes or bribery in elections would not be eligible for restoration under McGarvey's bill, which would place the issue before voters in 2020.

While similar measures have been introduced in the past, the issue has gained renewed attention after Florida voters last fall approved a citizen-led ballot measure to automatically restore most felons' ability to vote once they complete their sentence.

That left Kentucky and Iowa as the only two states to permanently ban all felons from voting unless restored individually by the governor. Virginia law also permanently bars felons from voting, but governors have recently been restoring rights automatically.

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"We are one of the most restrictive states in the country when it comes to allowing people who have served their sentences to have their voting rights restored,” McGarvey said. "When they have a job and they are living and working in our community, they need a voice in that community." 

He called the disproportionate impact on minorities in Kentucky "shameful."

It comes as Kentucky is facing a federal lawsuit by the Fair Elections Center and the Kentucky Equal Justice Center, which argues that Kentucky's procedures for restoring voting rights are arbitrary and unconstitutional. 

Currently, felons who want to vote and who have completed their sentence must submit an application that is decided by the governor, "who has unconstrained power to grant or deny restoration with no rules, laws or criteria governing these determinations," according to the suit.

From 2016 to the fall of 2018, the governor's office approved 975 of the 1,861 applications to restore civil rights, according to the Kentucky Department of Corrections. 

A spokeswoman for Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin recently said he would fight the suit and "continue restoring felons’ right to vote through the process established in Kentucky’s Constitution."

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At a news conference Friday in Frankfort, representatives from the ACLU of Kentucky, the Catholic Conference and the conservative Americans for Prosperity Kentucky supported the measure, Senate Bill 238. 

The change would remove "egregious obstacles" for felons to get voting rights restored once they’ve paid their debt to society, said Andrew McNeill, the Kentucky state director of Americans for Prosperity.

Others said the Kentucky constitution didn't envision the vastly expanded numbers of felony laws that now exist.

Among those who oppose such a change are U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who has called voting a privilege that should be denied to felons.

In November 2015, outgoing Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear issued an executive order to automatically restore voting rights to people with nonviolent felony convictions who had completed their sentences, affecting more than 100,000 people.

Bevin reversed that decision, arguing it should be done by constitutional amendment.

Amber Duke of the ACLU acknowledged that the bill faces competing priorities in a short session and could be difficult to pass.

It would require supermajority approval from both houses, McGarvey said, though he believes there is support in the Senate if the bill gets taken up.

If approved, it would not go on the ballot in 2020 since such measure can only go to voters in years that the General Assembly stands for election, he said.

"I hope we get a vote this session. If not, we'll bring it back in 2020 in time to get it on the ballot," he said. 

Reporter Chris Kenning can be reached at ckenning@gannett.com or 502-396-3361