A Senate committee on Wednesday approved a constitutional amendment that would give the General Assembly the power to restore voting rights to convicted felons without the need for a gubernatorial pardon. Senate Bill 299 wouldn’t automatically restore voting rights like House Bill 70 would, but instead it would allow the legislature to do it by statute. It passed the Senate State and Local Government Committee on a 10-0 vote. Under the Kentucky Constitution, only the governor has the authority to restore voting rights. Proponents have argued that once someone serves their sentence, they should have rights restored in an effort to assimilate them back into the community.
Senate President Robert Stivers said the issue isn’t “near and dear to my heart” but decided to sponsor the measure because there was a lot of interest from the legislature and no one could figure out how to reach consensus on it.
Proponents of the automatic restoration of voting rights, however, opposed the measure. Pam Newman, a member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, said her late mother had been convicted of a felony offense in Pennsylvania but upon her release was allowed to vote – until she moved to Kentucky years later.
Full Article: Bill to restore felon voting rights advances.