HB 70 - THE RIGHT TO VOTE IS A HALLMARK OF OUR SOCIETY
Urge State Representative on House Elections, Constitutional Amendments Commitee
to Vote YES on HB 70
What HB 70 Does: The legislation would allow Kentuckians to vote on changing
Section 145 of the KY Constitution to require the automatic restoration of
voting rights after a person completes their sentence. This approach avoids the
arbitrary use of discretionary power now assigned to the Governor of Kentucky,
and instead provides certainty and predictability. It encourages full
participation in the community, promotes democracy, and welcomes our sons and
daughters back after having paid their debt to society.
HB 70 reflects the teaching of our Catholic Catechism in paragraph 2240 that
speaks about participation in society and the moral obligation to vote:
2240 - Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it
morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend
one's country. Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio
Typica, 1997
In A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice: A Kentucky Call to
Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration - revised December 2005,
Kentucky's bishops urged that Kentucky's public policy about voting be changed
to include automatically restoring the right to vote to ex-offenders who have
completed the conditions of punishment placed upon them by a court of law:
8) Provide for timely restoration of voting rights to offenders. Ex-offenders
should be welcomed back into society as full participating members, to the
extent feasible, and have their right to vote automatically restored. ...Section
145 of the Kentucky Constitution should be changed to allow for the automatic
restoration of voting rights after release from prison or upon completion of
sentence.
The automatic restoration of voting rights promotes rehabilitation and
reintegration into the community. It is in a community's interest to encourage
participation in its activities. Voting is the fundamental expression of free
speech. The greater degree to which ex-felons have positive connections with the
community, the more likely it is that they will engage in positive social
activity. People who vote become more a part of the community and have a greater
stake in their society, both of which will increase their chance to become
successful in life. This is in our interest.
The right to vote is a foundation of citizenship. We require ex-felons to pay
taxes and comply with the laws enacted by their legislators when they return to
their communities. We should allow them the right to vote, a hallmark of our
democracy.
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