Sunday, 30 December 2007
It's Back.. Again
« Just a Snafu | Main | Where Oh Where Could My Reform Be »Why does the issue of felon voting rights keep coming back up every session? Don't we have more important issues to discuss?
This time they have a new sob story to talk about the woe of being a felon in Kentucky.
Mitchell Ford was a petty criminal who had been in trouble since he started drinking when he was 12 years old.
By age 18, he had moved on to drugs and was arrested for burglary, receiving stolen property and escape. He served every day of his six-year sentence.
Today, though, at age 32, he has turned his life around. He has been clean and sober since 2002, and has a good job helping others with addiction problems at the Volunteers of America.
Despite that, it took him nearly two years to be able to do what many others take for granted -- to vote. That's because the Kentucky Constitution prohibits felons from voting unless the governor restores their civil rights.
If you commit a felony you must serve time in prison and you must reapply to get your voting rights. Oh the horror! You know, if you don't commit the crime in the first place you wouldn't lose your voting rights. I am having trouble finding any sympathy for their cause.
Why does this story pop up every single session? These sob stories are obviously an effort to garner enough support to pass the bill. Why does the MSM care that much about this bill? Does the MSM care more about criminal rights than the real issues facing our state? Maybe they are hoping to reverse the shrinking pool of Democratic voters in this state? Or maybe this is just the liberal cause de jour of the day? Either way, the story is played out.... at least until the next session.
The CJ gave it away in their editorial. It is about 128,000 votes.