Convicted felons fighting for the right to vote

LEXINGTON, Ky (WTVQ) — In a lawsuit against the commonwealth, convicted felons are fighting for the right to vote and not have to petition Governor Beshear.

In 2019 Lostrutter, a felon, filed a lawsuit in Louisville for convicted felons to have the right to vote.

The fair elections center joined and added more plaintiffs.

According to Jon Sherman, Lostutter’s senior council there are currently three applicants still waiting for a decision to be made for them.

One of those applicants has been waiting close to two years

And judges are wondering why.

“There may have been an application submitted to prior governors your honor, but I’m not sure how long the two plaintiffs that have applied have potentially been pending,” says Taylor Payne, Chief Deputy General Counsel for Governor Beshear.

Sherman says the law needs to change and there needs to be a time stamp on these applications, so that people are not waiting for years.

Payne saying there is no right for this.

“There is no right to a timeliness on the decision and there is no right to impose outside procedural protections on these applications once they’re received,” says Payne.

Lostutter’s main argument is the application process needs to be removed, as it goes against a citizens first amendment right.

“A person submits an application to engage in political expression, once again, and the governor will decide whether they are ‘worthy’,” says Sherman. “There are no rules, no criteria admittedly, there is no specific content whatsoever to that determination. Just one single official with sole and exclusive authority to determine whether that person is worthy or not.”

The commonwealth argues this application does not go against a citizens first amendment right, since once you’re convicted of a felony, you lose that right.

In Governor Beshear’s executive order, there are certain felonies where you do not receive the right to vote after finishing a sentence like treason… bribery in an election… or human trafficking.

However, felons that have served their time can petition this order and Governor Beshear has the final say.