Andy Beshear signed an executive order that will restore voting rights for roughly 140,000 citizens in Kentucky, around 4% of the state's total adult population. Kentucky, along with Iowa, was one of 2 states imposing a lifetime ban on voting by anyone convicted of a felony. In the Bluegrass State, however, the governor has the power to unilaterally restore the rights of those who have completed their sentences, and Beshear did just that for citizens convicted of nonviolent offenses.
Beshear's campaign promise to use his executive powers to restore voting rights came after his father, former Gov. Steve Beshear, tried to do the same thing as his own tenure drew to a close in 2015.
Kentucky has 1 of the worst rates of disenfranchisement in the country, banning 1 out of every 11 adults from voting. That figure includes roughly one in four black adults, the highest such rate of any state.
At www.theguardian.com
