Kentuckian Chris Applegate doesn’t take his right to vote for granted.
Applegate, who lives in Corinth, lost the right to vote in Kentucky some years ago. He restored that right in 2019 when Gov. Andy Beshear signed an order automatically restoring voting rights to nonviolent felons who have finished their sentence or terms of release.
At a “We Love Voting Rights” rally at the state capitol on Tuesday, the Northern Kentuckian said getting back his voting rights has brought him fully back into society.
“Now that I’m included and can participate, I’m part of that society,” Applegate said. “That’s the psychology behind it.”
Applegate is among over 140,000 Kentuckians eligible for restoration of their voting rights under the 2019 order, still in effect today. But around 162,000 convicted Kentucky felons have completed their sentence or terms of release yet don’t qualify for restoration under the governor’s order.
Those ex-offenders are banned from voting based on the type of crime they committed. No one convicted of violent offenses is eligible to have their voting rights automatically restored under the 2019 order. Persons convicted of bribery and treason in an election are also ineligible. A constitutional amendment or restoration of voting rights by the governor is the only way they can get back those rights.Â
Tip Moody with the civic engagement group Advocacy Based on Lived Experience told LINK nky that there are hundreds of restoration requests pending based on his research.
“I have filed open records requests with the governor’s office,” Moody said. “Last year I got a response. The governor’s office will not tell you how many they have received, and the governor’s office is very quick to tell you they have not declined any. That’s a very misleading statistic.”
Although the rally on Tuesday was called to advocate for a constitutional change, Applegate and Moody told LINK nky that Beshear could sign an executive order that restores voting rights to all ex-offenders who have completed the terms of their sentence or release. Calling out Beshear as a factor in current voter disenfranchisement in the state, Moody said the governor wants to decide “who is worthy” of voting by carving out certain felons for restoration of their rights.
“He wants to determine who has proved that after incarceration, felony disenfranchisement, addiction – who is really worthy of having that basic elemental fact of citizenship given back to them,” Moody said.
At the rally, Moody shared a voting rights post that Beshear made on X (formerly Twitter) earlier this month. It reads, “The right to vote is the most sacred and fundamental American right there is. We should be encouraging more citizens to get involved in our democracy, not creating more roadblocks.”
Based on that post and “as a man of faith, (Beshear’s) actions on this particular issue show a complete disconnect between his public words and his actions,” Moody told LINK nky.
Beshear has said he supports a constitutional amendment to preserve his order, signed two days after taking office in 2019. An amendment that preserves the order would not expand to those who have completed their sentences for violent felonies and other felons prohibited from voting under the constitution.
The amendment would have to be proposed by the Kentucky General Assembly and approved by the voters.
The Kentucky constitution says “persons convicted in any court of competent jurisdiction of treason, or felony, or bribery in an election or of such high misdemeanor as the General Assembly may declare” cannot vote in Kentucky. It also excludes from voting those who are incarcerated at the time of an election and “idiots and insane persons.”
A proposed constitutional amendment for felon voting rights is pending this session in the Senate, but it would not provide for immediate restoration of felon voting rights. It also wouldn’t give blanket restoration of the right to vote, but would instead carve out that right for certain felons only – similar to the governor’s 2019 order.
Meanwhile, the governor – whose office is just steps away from the capitol rotunda where the rally took place Tuesday – has not rescinded his public comments supporting a constitutional amendment that would make his executive order permanent.