HB 420

UNOFFICIAL COPY  26 RS BR 1820
1AN ACT proposing an amendment to Section 145 of the Constitution of Kentucky
2 relating to voting rights.
3 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
4Section 1.  Are you in favor of amending Section 145 of the Constitution of
5 Kentucky to provide that every citizen of the United States who is at least eighteen years
6 of age and who has resided in Kentucky for at least thirty days immediately before an
7 election shall be entitled to vote in the precinct of his or her residence and not elsewhere;
8 and to automatically restore the voting rights of persons who have been convicted of a
9 felony, not involving treason, bribery in an election, or election fraud, upon the
10 completion of any term of imprisonment, probation, or parole, and to automatically
11 restore their civil rights five years after the completion of any term of imprisonment,
12 probation, or parole, as stated below?
13Section 2.  It is proposed that Section 145 of the Constitution of Kentucky be
14 amended to read as follows:
15(1)     Every citizen of the United States of the age of eighteen years who has resided
16 in the state thirty days[one year, and in the county six months, and the precinct in which
17 he or she offers to vote sixty days] next preceding the election, shall be a voter in the
18 precinct of his or her residence[said precinct] and not elsewhere. No person who is not a
19 citizen of the United States shall be allowed to vote in this state. The following persons
20 also shall not have the right to vote:
21(a)[1.]  Persons convicted in any court of competent jurisdiction of treason,[ or
22 felony, or] bribery in an election, or election fraud[of such high misdemeanor as the
23 General Assembly may declare shall operate as an exclusion from the right of suffrage],
24 but persons hereby excluded may be restored to their civil rights by executive pardon;[.]
25(b)[2.]  Persons convicted in any court of competent jurisdiction of a felony,
26 until completion of any term of imprisonment, probation, or parole, unless restored to
27 their civil rights earlier by executive pardon;
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1(c)     Persons who, at the time of the election, are in confinement under the
2 judgment of a court for some penal offense; and[.]
3(d)[3.]  Persons who have been determined by a court of competent
4 jurisdiction to be mentally incompetent and who have not retained their voting rights
5 or had those rights restored[Idiots and insane persons].
6(2)     All persons convicted in any court of competent jurisdiction of a felony who
7 have not been previously restored to their civil rights by executive pardon shall have
8 their civil rights automatically restored five years after completion of any term of
9 imprisonment, probation, or parole.
10(3)     Persons who have had their right to vote or civil rights previously restored
11 under this section and who subsequently have been convicted in any court of
12 competent jurisdiction of any felony shall not have the right to vote until completion of
13 any term of imprisonment, probation, or parole for the subsequent offense unless they
14 are restored to their civil rights by executive pardon, and shall not have their civil
15 rights automatically restored until five years after completion of any term of
16 imprisonment, probation, or parole for the subsequent offense.
17Section 3.  This amendment shall be submitted to the voters of the
18 Commonwealth for their ratification or rejection at the time and in the manner provided
19 for under Sections 256 and 257 of the Constitution, KRS 118.415, and Sections 4 and 5
20 of this Act.
21Section 4. Notwithstanding any provision of KRS 118.415 to the contrary, the
22 Secretary of State shall cause the entirety of the question in Section 1 of this Act and the
23 entirety of the proposed amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky contained in Section
24 2 of this Act to be published at least one time in a newspaper of general circulation
25 published in this state, and shall also cause to be published at the same time and in the
26 same manner the fact that the amendment will be submitted to the voters for their
27 acceptance or rejection at the next regular election at which members of the General
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1 Assembly are to be voted for. The publication required by this section and KRS 118.415
2 shall be made no later than the first Tuesday in August preceding the election at which
3 the amendment is to be voted on.
4Section 5. Notwithstanding any provision of KRS 118.415 to the contrary, the
5 Secretary of State, not later than the second Monday after the second Tuesday in August
6 preceding the next regular election at which members of the General Assembly are to be
7 chosen in a year in which there is not an election for President and Vice President of the
8 United States, or not later than the Thursday after the first Tuesday in September
9 preceding a regular election in a year in which there is an election for President and Vice
10 President of the United States, shall certify the entirety of the question in Section 1 of this
11 Act and the entirety of the proposed amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky
12 contained in Section 2 of this Act to the county clerk of each county, and the county clerk
13 shall have the entirety of the question and the amendment, as so certified, indicated on
14 the ballots provided to the voters in paper or electronic form as applicable to the voting
15 machines in use in each county or precinct.
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