Kentucky Senate takes step toward restoring voting rights for some felons
Kentucky lawmakers have been debating for about 25 years how to restore voting rights to people who have committed felonies.
The latest plan took a step forward Thursday when the state Senate voted 29-7 to approve an amendment to Kentucky’s Constitution that would the General Assembly define the terms of how voting rights would be restored.
If approved by the House, the issue would go to statewide polls in November, since it would require a change to the constitution. The governor has no say in getting proposed constitutional amendments through the legislature.
Senate Bill 62, sponsored by Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, initially called for changing the constitution to grant persons convicted of a felony other than a sex offense, a violent offense or an offense against a child the right to vote five years after completion of their sentence.
A Senate committee earlier this month took out the time limit and said the General Assembly would determine how long a felon would have to wait to obtain voting rights after completing the sentence.
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said the legislature could set up different waiting periods for different offenses. “Say, it could be automatic immediately for a crime of flagrant non-support but longer period of time for something like burglary,” he said.
Stivers said the bill would not overturn Gov. Andy Beshear’s decision last December to issue an executive order that restores voting rights to about 140,000 felons.
Higdon told his colleagues that Kentucky is one of only two states that ban felonies from voting once they have completed their sentences.
In voting against the bill, Sen. Reginald Thomas, D-Lexington, said voting rights should be restored for any felon who has completed his or her sentence.
Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, who voted for the bill, expressed concern that it could affect Beshear’s executive order.
