Posts in Election Law
The ACLU Wins One for Kentucky Voters

Still reading the Order granting the Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment myself.  

Definitely in awe of Bill Sharp, Dale Ho, and Laughlin McDonald. 

For the reasons set forth below, this three-judge district court shall GRANT Plaintiffs’ Joint Motion for Summary Judgment, DECLARE that the 2002 state legislative electoral districts are presently unconstitutional, and permanently ENJOIN any future election from being conducted pursuant to these districts. Importantly, this Order does nothing to prevent the Kentucky General Assembly from crafting redistricting legislation during the August 19, 2013 special legislative session. What it does do is prevent the General Assembly
from falling back on lines that will be over a decade old if they fail.
Form for Restoration of Voting Rights in Kentucky

Do we believe a person can be redeemed or not? That's the question at the heart of the debate about the restoration of the right to vote after a person convicted of a felony has paid his or her debt to society. 

Seven percent of all voting-age Kentuckians cannot vote; as former felons they have lost their right to vote.

Under Section 145 of the Kentucky Constitution, the Governor can restore a former felon's right to vote. To apply for restoration, a felon must fill out an "Application for Restoration of Civil Rights" and return it to:

Department of Corrections
Division of Probation & Parole
Attn: Restoration of Civil Rights
P.O. Box 2400
Frankfort, KY 40602-2400

Long term, the solution is amending Kentucky's Constitution to make automatic restoration once a felon has paid his debt to society. Short term, making it as easy as possible for former felons to ask the Governor to restore their right to vote is the best we can do.

I have created a form that Kentuckians can fill out online, print, sign, and return to the address above. The applicant's signature must be notarized (search by city or zip code) or witnessed by the applicant's probation and parole officer.

Please note: this form cannot be saved online or submitted online. If you get stuck, fill out as much as you can, print it, and then fill out the rest as you collect the required information. You can also just right-click and save the file and fill it in later. 

Fill out the form now.

We will fix this broken system eventually. This opt-in system keeps 243,000 Kentuckians off of the voter rolls. We will fix this with a system of automatic restoration. For now, though, we need to make applying for restoration of civil rights as frictionless as possible. This is my small attempt to contribute something valuable.