Kentucky: Advocates seek restoration of Kentucky felon voting rights | The Courier-Journal

Advocates pleaded with Kentucky lawmakers Tuesday for legislation that could restore voting rights to some former felons, but Republicans say support remains murky in the Senate — where similar bills have died for years. Felons currently must petition the governor to regain voting rights under the Kentucky constitution, and Democrats are proposing changes that would allow most non-violent felons to vote once they have completed their sentence. Advocates say Kentucky is one of only four states that permanently bars felons from casting a ballot — a practice that hits hardest on African Americans and denies former convicts a chance to fully return to civic life, they argued. “I made a mistake, but I am not a mistake,” said Tayna Fogle, a former felon who works with Kentuckians For the Commonwealth, a left-leaning grassroots organization. “I can contribute to this community, and voting is very important to me.”

Kentucky: Opposition to Felon Voting Rights Thawing, Kentucky Lawmaker Says | WFPL

Saying Kentucky state senators have been the historical roadblock, Democrat Gerald Neal of Louisville has pre-filed a bill to restore voting rights to certain former felons. Movement on the proposal comes weeks after U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., spoke out in favor of restoring felons’ voting rights at the state and federal levels, which many observers argue is an indication the GOP may be changing its view on the issue. For the past six years, the Democratic-led state House has passed similar proposals by wide, bipartisan margins to give convicted felons their rights back. All of those measures have died in the Republican-controlled Senate and often without a hearing. Neal says senators in the Republican caucus are beginning to come around and putting the bill in his chamber first is a better strategy given its history.

Kentucky: Senate Republican Leader Open to Giving Felon Voting Rights a Second Look | WFPL

A day after U.S. Sen. Rand Paul called on Republican lawmakers in the Kentucky General Assembly to give restoration of felon voting rights a second look, a prominent GOP state senator says the caucus might be open to the idea. Speaking at the Plymouth Community Renewal Center earlier this week, Paul said U.S. drug laws disproportionately effect racial minorities. One of the consequences, Paul said, is voter disenfranchisement for African-Americans. The senator told west Louisville residents he would lobby leaders in the Republican-controlled state Senate to seek a compromise on House Bill 70. The bill would automatically give certain felons their rights back and passed the state House in a bipartisan 72-25 vote. But it stalled in the state Senate this year.

Kentucky: U.S. appeals court overturns convictions in Kentucky vote fraud case | The Courier-Journal

Eight people from southeastern Kentucky were granted new trials Wednesday after a federal appeals court overturned their convictions in what prosecutors described as a massive vote buying scheme that stretched over three elections. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves allowed jurors to hear some evidence that should not have been admitted and erred in his handling of transcripts of secret tape recordings that an informant made during the FBI investigation. The unanimous ruling means former Clay County Circuit Judge R. Cletus Maricle, former school superintendent Doug Adams and six other defendants will get a second chance to contest the allegations stemming from the 2002, 2004 and 2006 elections.

Kentucky: Virginia Restores Voting Rights for Ex-Felons, Kentucky Still Waiting | Floyd County Times

FRANKFORT – Ex-felons in Virginia have gotten the call. Governor Bob McDonnell has expanded voting rights to nonviolent offenders who have served their time. That leaves Kentucky as one of just three states, along with Iowa and Florida, where an individual petition is the only way ex-felons can have their voting rights restored. According to Megan Naseman, a member of Kentuckians For the Commonwealth, a citizens’ group that pushes for restoration of voting rights, such restoration would lessen recidivism. “Statistics show that when people have their right to vote back, they’re less likely to be engaged in more crime,” she said. “I mean, it makes sense, if you have a voice you can use that voice.”

Kentucky: Advocates seeking return of felons’ right to vote | Cincinnati.com

Shawnika Gill won’t get a chance to vote in the State of Kentucky unless the governor says she can. That’s because Kentucky has one of the most restrictive laws in the country for felons who want their right to vote restored and is one of only four states that requires the governor to sign off on the person’s application. But a group of political activists and those who work with felons have pushed in recent years for a change in the law and hope to gain traction with the new Senate leadership this year. Gill, 37, of Covington said a felony burglary conviction in 1996 at the age of 20 has kept her from the ballot box in Kentucky, even 10 years after she got out of prison. She said she feels she did her time. “I feel like I pay my taxes like everybody else and want to speak on things that are going on, especially gay marriage and things,” Gill said. “I want to marry my mate. I want to be able to put her on my income tax.”

Kentucky: Beshear says he will decide soon when to schedule legislative redistricting | Kentucky.com

Gov. Steve Beshear hopes to determine within about a week when to call a special legislative session to redraw the boundaries of state House and Senate districts. Beshear, after meeting for about an hour Monday behind closed doors in his Capitol office with Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker Greg Stumbo, said they were “working on a set of ground rules” for a special session and “are already looking at their calendars for a date.” Only the governor may call a special session and set its agenda. The legislature determines how long one will last. Beshear and the legislative leaders want a special session to run for only five days. That’s the minimum needed to make a law. The session will cost taxpayers about $65,000 a day.

Kentucky: North Kentuckians debate restoring felons’ right to vote | Cinncinnati.com

Restoring the voting rights to felons ranked among the reforms some Northern Kentuckians would like to see Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes advocate for. Dozens of Northern Kentuckians Wednesday night at Dixie Heights High School told Grimes what they like and dislike about Kentucky’s voting laws. Grimes vistied Northern Kentucky as part of five town halls she will conduct around the state this year to get input on voting laws. Many wore stickers made by advocacy organization Kentuckians for the Commonwealth that read “I voted but 243,842 Kentuckians could not. Restore voting rights to former felons.” A majority of the the 121 people polled online by the Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement at Northern Kentucky University–56 percent–”strongly” agreed with restoring voting rights to felons, while another 24 percent “somewhat” agreed. But Kentucky remains one of four states that requires a gubernatorial pardon to restore voting rights.

Kentucky: Special election first test of military voting law | Kentucky.com

A special legislative election in central Kentucky could be the first test of the state’ new military voting law passed earlier this year to help ensure soldiers deployed to foreign countries get to cast ballots back home. Gov. Steve Beshear set the election for June 25 to replace former state Rep. Carl Rollins, who resigned earlier this week to become executive director of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority. The election date, some two months off as required now, will allow more time for county clerks to send absentee ballots to military personnel and others serving overseas.

Kentucky: Internet Voting Security: Wishful Thinking Doesn’t Make It True | Duncan Buell/Freedom to Tinker

On Thursday, March 21, in the midst of Kentucky’s deliberation over allowing votes to be cast over the Internet, the daily poll of the Louisville Courier-Journal asked the readers, “Should overseas military personnel be allowed to vote via the Internet?” This happened the day before their editorial rightly argued against Internet voting at this time. One of the multiple choice answers was “Yes, it can be made just as secure as any balloting system.” This brings up the old adage, “we are all entitled to our own opinions, but we are not entitled to our own facts.” The simple fact is that Internet voting is possible – but it is definitely NOT as secure as some other balloting systems. This is not a matter of opinion, but a matter of fact. Votes cast over the Internet are easily subject to corruption in a number of different ways.

Kentucky: Deal Reached on Military Voting Legislation, Passes in Final Minutes of Session | WFPL

Kentucky military personnel serving overseas will be able to get ballots electronically under legislation approved late Tuesday in the Kentucky General Assembly. How they send them back is still to be determined. Working until the last minute of the 2013 session, legislators went back to the original Senate version of the military voting bill that allowed for electronic sending of ballots to overseas military, but snail mail return of the ballot. The legislation also establishes a task force to study electronic returns—the preferred method of Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. The task force will address safety concerns with that option.

Kentucky: Quarles appointed to committee on military voting bill, says lawmakers have not yet met | News-Graphic.com

A measure which would change the way military service personnel receive absentee ballots and cast their votes remains in limbo, a Scott County lawmaker said Wednesday. Among the high-profile proposals before Kentucky legislators during this year’s General Assembly was a bill backed by Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes, which would facilitate electronic ballot requests and submissions. Differing versions of the bill passed both the House and Senate, and a conference committee made up of members of each chamber has been picked to hammer out a compromise. … The chambers are at odds over whether or not service personnel can return ballots electronically or must still mail in hard copies. The Senate struck the provision for electronic voting from its bill due to concerns over cyber security. Senate President Larry Stivers, R-Manchester, stressed those concerns while presenting the bill for a vote earlier in the session. “If my bank account is hacked, I can see that,” he told fellow lawmakers. “If a ballot is tampered with, who would ever know?”

Kentucky: Security concerns at center of voting debate | The State Journal

Whether Kentuckians deployed or living overseas should have the option to cast ballots using the Internet has been among the more heavily debated topics of this year’s legislative session. Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes has led the charge to make an electronic transmission system available for military and overseas voters from Kentucky, a main provision in Senate Bill 1 that was later removed. Some, such as Senate President Robert Stivers and Common Cause of Kentucky, a government watchdog group, have raised concerns with cyber security and election integrity. Supporters say secure systems have been implemented by other states without issue. The bill, sponsored by Stivers, R-Manchester, is set for a conference committee. Two key parts of the legislation – electronic submission of absentee ballots and allowing a two-day extension to receive them – were removed by the Senate and later reinserted by the House, prompting debate in both chambers as votes were cast.

Kentucky: Democrats say online voting would be more secure than vulnerable Florida system | The Courier-Journal

As Kentucky Democrats make a last-minute push to allow U.S. military to vote online, Florida is reporting what appears to be the first case of someone trying to manipulate U.S. voting through the Internet. A Miami-Dade County grand jury report reveals Internet requests from computers in locations such as Ireland, England and India sought more than 2,500 absentee ballots during the primary election last August. The report said officials blocked the ballots from going out when they saw “an extraordinary number” of ballot requests from the same group of computers. Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said her proposal for Kentucky differs from the Florida system, which didn’t require users to sign in with a password. “That example isn’t applicable to what Kentucky is trying to do,” Grimes said. But Candice Hoke, a law professor and director of the Center For Election Integrity at Cleveland State University in Ohio, said the Florida case shows that Internet voting is a potential target and that there may have been other attempts to manipulate the voting that haven’t been uncovered.

Kentucky: Many clerks oppose email and fax voting | Daily Independent

When Secretary of State Alison Grimes proposed ways to allow military personnel stationed outside of Kentucky to cast absentee ballots more easily and quickly, nearly everyone said it was a good idea. But concerns about the integrity of emailed absentee ballots and allowing such ballots to be counted, even if they arrived a couple of days late, have led to different bills in the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House. Richard Beliles of Common Cause of Kentucky believes it would be relatively easy to hack into those emails and change votes and many county clerks – just how many is in dispute – raised similar concerns. So Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, sponsored the bill but altered Grimes’ proposal by removing the email and extra time provisions. The bill passed easily in that chamber.

Kentucky: Push to Restore Voting Rights in Kentucky | Public News Service

Convicted felons in Kentucky are not guaranteed to get their voting rights back once they’ve come off parole or probation. A bill (HB70) proposing a constitutional amendment to restore that right to most ex-felons is now before the state Senate. It’s an idea the House has approved six straight years, but the bill has always died in the Senate. According to former felon Damon Horton, that’s keeping more than a quarter-million Kentuckians from having the chance to vote.

Kentucky: Law banning Election Day alcohol sales could soon be history | Kentucky.com

The Kentucky General Assembly appears poised to lift the state’s Election Day booze-buying ban, which would leave South Carolina as the only remaining state that enforces the Prohibition-era rule. A state House committee approved a bill Wednesday that would lift the ban on the sales of alcoholic beverages in wet areas on election days in Kentucky. Senate Bill 13, sponsored by Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, now goes to the full House for consideration. After no member of the House Licensing and Occupations Committee voted against the proposal, Schickel said he is optimistic about its chances in the House. “I’ve talked to leadership in the House, and I think they are committed to getting it passed,” he said.

Kentucky: Senate Approves Electronic Voting Bill That Requires Snail Mail Returns | WFPL

The state Senate has passed a bill that allows Kentucky military personnel to register to vote and receive ballots electronically—but they’ll have to use snail mail to send the ballots back. Senate President Robert Stivers would allow deployed citizens to register to vote and receive their ballots electronically. Initially, a floor amendment to the bill would have allowed the military members to return the ballots electronically, but the amendment was withdrawn by sponsor Sen. Kathy Stein, a Lexington Democrat.

Kentucky: Military voting bill passes Kentucky Senate | The Courier-Journal

A bill to make voting easier for members of the military passed the Senate unanimously Tuesday with many Democrats saying they hope a provision allowing voting by email is restored to the bill. Senate President Robert Stivers, a Manchester Republican, sponsored the bill as a show of bipartisanship with Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, who first proposed the idea. But last week Stivers stripped from the bill a provision that Grimes considers important — wording that would let overseas voters transmit their votes electronically by email or over the Internet. During floor debate Tuesday, Stivers said he deleted the provision because several county clerks had told him “they did not feel they could maintain the integrity of the ballot nor the anonymity of the voters.” He also said Richard Beliles, chairman of Common Cause of Kentucky, had expressed strong concerns about electronic voting.

Kentucky: Plan to let deployed soldiers email ballots stalls | Cincinnati.com

Kentucky soldiers deployed overseas won’t be able to send election ballots back to the state via email, fax machine or any other form of electronic transmissions, at least for now, under legislation that has been revamped by Senate Republicans. The Senate Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection removed that provision from a bill on Thursday before sending it to the full Senate for consideration. Senate President Robert Stivers, the Manchester Republican who sponsored the measure, proposed the amendment striking electronic transmission of ballots in an effort to protect the integrity of elections and the anonymity of voters. He said he did so after concerns were raised about the potential for hackers gaining access to the ballots.

Kentucky: Senate panel halts proposal for overseas military to vote electronically | Kentucky.com

A Senate committee applied the brakes Thursday to a proposal by Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes to let overseas military members vote electronically, citing concerns about the potential for hackers to alter ballots. At the urging of Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, the committee voted along party lines to amend the bill to require ballots to be returned by mail, instead of fax or electronic transmission. The amendment also set up a study of electronic voting, to be completed by Nov. 27. After the committee unanimously approved the amended version of Senate Bill 1, Stivers acknowledged that he had consulted with U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell about the measure. McConnell, a Republican, is seeking re-election next year. Many Democrats are urging Grimes to run against him. “We asked Sen. McConnell’s office to look at it because he has been involved in it,” said Stivers, adding that McConnell’s office is aware of voting procedures prescribed by the U.S. Department of Defense. Stivers said McConnell did not recommend changes to the bill. “No, these were from the county clerks association,” he told a reporter after the meeting.

Kentucky: Military voting bill’s key backers disagree over email provision | The Courier-Journal

A dispute over emailing completed ballots has fractured the bipartisan support behind a bill designed to simplify voting for Kentucky military personnel overseas. Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and Republican Senate President Robert Stivers joined forces to push Senate Bill 1 — designed to make it easier for Kentuckians serving abroad to vote. Grimes got the idea after visiting Kentucky soldiers serving in the Middle East last year. But their alliance has splintered because of concerns over the security of emailed votes. The bill, which Stivers filed Friday, includes a phrase that says such votes can be cast “by facsimile” or by “electronic transmission.” But Lourdes Baez-Schrader, a spokeswoman for Stivers’ office, said the phrase was included by mistake, adding that it conflicts with other parts of the bill that do not authorize electronic transmission of ballots.

Kentucky: Advocates for felons’ voting rights hope changes in legislature prove beneficial to bill | Kentucky.com

In describing Jesse Crenshaw, the average person could call him a long-time state representative who was first elected to serve the 77th District in 1993. But for convicted felons who have paid their debt to society, the adjectives used could be determined, persistent, unflagging and resolute. That’s because for years Crenshaw has introduced a bill in the House that would call for the automatic restoration of voting rights for all felons except those who convicted of “treason, intentional killing, a sex crime or bribery.” “It is one of the most important rights a person can have,” Crenshaw said. “From a Christian standpoint, it is about redemption.” There are more than 234,000 Kentuckians with felony convictions, he said, “and most of those are already out of prison. These are people in our society who deserve to be able to vote.”

Kentucky: Even-year voting bill would shift elections | Cincinnati.com

A Northern Kentucky senator believes state and local governments in the commonwealth could save money if voters agree to move the election of the governor and other constitutional officers to coincide with presidential elections. State Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill, introduced a proposed constitutional amendment that would move the next election of the state’s constitutional officers from 2015 to 2016 and set the cycle for every four years after that. It would extend the current term of the governor and other statewide officeholders by one year. The Kentucky Constitution set the election of governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, agriculture commissioner and auditor every four years beginning in 1895. With U.S. Senate, House and presidential races in even years, that means Kentucky has statewide elections every three out of four years.

Kentucky: Military voting proposal raises fraud concerns in Kentucky | The Courier-Journal

Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes’ proposal to make it easier for members of the military to vote has been hailed by legislators of both parties and even given the honorific designation as Senate Bill 1 for this year’s legislative session. But the proposal drew opposition Wednesday from groups that say a key provision allowing electronic voting from overseas makes votes vulnerable to fraud. “We agree with almost all of the recommendations,” Richard Beliles, chairman of Common Cause of Kentucky, said in a letter he delivered to Grimes’ office Wednesday. “However, we strongly recommend against allowing ballots to be cast online via email, efax, or through Internet portals.” The letter, also endorsed by an official of a California-based public interest group called Verified Voting Foundation, argues, “Online voting presents a direct threat to the integrity of elections in Kentucky because it is not sufficiently secure against fraud or malfunction. Cyber security experts with the Department of Homeland Security have publicly warned against Internet voting.”

Kentucky: Electronic Voting for Military Chief Priority for Kentucky Senate | WKU

Giving Kentucky service members and their spouses the ability to cast absentee ballots electronically is the priority of the Kentucky State Senate heading into the 2013 legislative session, Senate President-elect Robert Stivers said on Monday. Stivers says he’s taking recommendations from Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes to allow electronic voting for overseas military personnel. The measure will be Senate Bill 1 — the title that usually goes to the chamber’s chief legislative priority every year. And Stivers says that if the legislation can be written in time, the Senate plans to pass it completely by the end of the session’s first week.

Kentucky: Memory cards linked to delay in Bullitt County election results | The Courier-Journal

For all the uncertainty surrounding the election-result delays that plagued the Bullitt County Board of Elections last week, two certainties did emerge: 2013 is guaranteed to go smoothly because there are no county elections, and 2014 is sufficient time to address the various memory-card calculation problems that plagued not only last week’s vote-counting, but also both the primary and general elections of 2010.

Kentucky: Kentucky special election for Congress leaves questions over ballots | cincinnati.com

The special election spurred by U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis’ resignation in July has left questions for election officials about how the ballots will be handled. Gov. Steve Beshear has set the special election to fill the vancancy for Geoff Davis’ Fourth Congressional District seat on the same day as the general election on Nov. 6. Some, however, fear the two elections–one for the general election and the other special election to fill out the final months of Davis’ term that expires at the end of the year–will cause confusion. Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and county clerks await on a Franklin Circuit Court judge’s decision on how to proceed with absentee ballots. Grimes filed suit to move the Oct. 9 deadline for candidates to file for the special election up to Sept. 10, when the state certifies the names on the general election ballot. Grimes has said it must send out ballots 45 days prior to an election for people overseas, such as the military, to have time to fill out and send back the ballots. An Oct. 9 deadline only leaves 28 days.

Kentucky: Drug money funds voter fraud in Kentucky | Fox News

Voter fraud has a shocking new meaning in eastern Kentucky. That is where in some cases, major cocaine and marijuana dealers admitted to buying votes to steal elections, and the result is the corruption of American democracy. The government continues to mete out justice in the scandal, as two people convicted in April in a vote-buying case face sentencing this week, and another public official pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy. “We believe that drug money did buy votes,” Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, said of a separate vote-buying case. He described a stunning vote-buying scheme that includes “very extensive, organized criminal activity, involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in many cases that involves drug money.”

Kentucky: Supreme Court reiterates redistricting decision | Kentucky.com

A legislative redistricting plan for Kentucky is unconstitutional because it doesn’t adequately address population shifts of the past decade, the Kentucky Supreme Court reiterated in a ruling Thursday. Justices also echoed a February decision that legislative candidates will have to run this year in districts that have been in place for the past 10 years. The 27-page ruling explains the legal rationale behind the previous ruling in which justices had originally declared the redistricting law unconstitutional.