FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) – Voting groups say that somewhere around 312,000 people in Kentucky can’t vote because of a felony conviction. Some lawmakers in Frankfort want to change that.
Kentucky is one of three states that doesn’t automatically restore voting rights once someone completes their sentence.
House Bill 91 is hoping to change that. The sponsors of the bill told lawmakers that the issue should be a constitutional amendment.
If the bill passes, voters will decide whether the right to vote should automatically be restored to their fellow citizens.
“The thing that I’d like to ask this committee and all members of the House is let the citizens of Kentucky vote. That’s all their asking for. Let the citizens vote.,” Representative George Brown Jr. said on the floor Monday.
It’s important to note that the house has repeatedly passed bills similar to this one over the last 12 years, but lawmakers say the bill usually stalls in the senate.
