RICHMOND — More than 186,000 Kentuckians cannot participate in one of the most fundamental expressions of speech — the right to vote, according to a report by the League of Women Voters of Kentucky (LWVK).

Kentucky is one of the two states that permanently disenfranchise all persons with felony convictions after they have completed their full sentence, except through executive pardon, the report says.

“The right to vote is a foundation of citizenship,” social justice group Kentuckians for the Commonwealth stated on its website. “We require ex-felons to pay taxes and comply with the laws enacted by their legislators when they return to their communities. The right to vote, a hallmark of our democracy, should follow.”

Local members of KFTC, which has a chapter in Berea, along with dozens of other organizations, are in support of a bill that will allow voters to decide in November whether to automatically restore voting rights to nonviolent ex-felons.

State Rep. Jesse Crenshaw, D-Lexington, is sponsoring House Bill 70, an amendment to the state constitution that will allow persons convicted of a felony other than treason, intentional killing, a sex crime or bribery the right to vote after the completion of probation, parole or sentence, the draft bill reads.

If adopted, the amendment will restore voting rights to almost 6 percent of Kentuckians, or one out of every 17 residents. The proportion of the state’s population ineligible to vote because of felony conviction is more than twice the national average (one in 41), according to the LWVK report.

However, HB 70 has passed in the Democratic-controlled House during the last three legislative sessions (2009, 2010 and 2011), but has been ushered into the State and Government Committee by the Republican-run Senate, essentially killing it, according to KFTC’s website.

“If we keep treating people like animals, they’re going to act like animals. If we want them to be responsible citizens, then we have to treat them like responsible citizens,” said Berean Jeff Parm, restorative justice practitioner and a member of KFTC since 2002.

Restoring voting rights to ex-felons helps to rehumanize them, giving them a sense of responsibility to their community. he said.

Parm, along with members of Union Church and the community of Berea, started a group in 2006 called Circle of Support and Accountability that help ex-prisoners transition back into society. The group also offers support to victims, as well.

“Most people are jobless and homeless when they come out of prison,” Parm said. “If we can help these people make it, then they’re not going to hurt anybody else.”

Parm also goes into prisons and conducts workshops that help prisoners recognize that they come from traumatic situations. He found that most prisoners had developed coping mechanisms to deal with life in illegal ways as a response to their harsh situations. His job is to teach them how to build healthy relationships with others and become a part of their community outside of prison, he said.

However, most of Parm’s correctional work has been in the Ohio criminal justice system, which seeks more progressive ways to rehabilitate its prisoners, he said.

“I’ve heard this over and over again, that the criminal justice system in Kentucky is 20 years behind everywhere else,” Parm said.

Disenfranchising so many Kentuckians only allows politicians to be able to announce, “I’m tough on crime,” though the crime already has been committed and the debt already has been paid, he said.

“Our laws provide a method for establishing whether someone is guilty and what the penalty for that felony should be,” said Guy Townsend of Berea, a KFTC member and former prosecutor. “This method is essentially a contract between the state and the felon, establishing a ‘cost’ in the form of a sentence.”

When the felon completes that sentence, he has paid the assigned penalty and should be re-admitted to society with all the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote, he said.

Along with other KFTC members, Townsend regularly lobbies legislatures for the passage of HB 70, but he said it is disheartening to lobby year after year only to have it killed in a Senate committee.

As a former prosecutor, Townsend said there is a general presumption that people who have committed felonies have demonstrated that they lack the qualities required to be a good citizen.

“However, why should someone, who had paid his debt, be permanently prevented from doing something that could actually increase the likelihood that he would remain a law-abiding and productive member of society?” Townsend asked.

Dr. Meta Mendel-Reyes, KFTC member and associate professor of general studies at Berea College, focused on voting rights in one of her classes.

Her students interviewed disenfranchised individuals to “tell the stories of real ex-felons and put a human face on the issue,” she said.

Mendel-Reyes recalled the story of one woman who had committed a felony related to drugs many years ago. She served her time but was now prohibited from accompany her granddaughter on a field trip. The woman wanted her voting rights restored so she could be a model to her children and grandchildren on what it means to be a citizen, the professor said.

Another story that stood out to Mendel-Reyes was that of man who served in the Navy after his conviction. He told them it doe not make sense that he can die for his country, yet he could not exercise one of the basic rights of a citizen.

With KFTC, Mendel-Reyes has aided the group in lobbying, helping to draft legislation and voting rights education. She thinks the social group has been “a leader in the fight for restoration of voting rights.”

However, the current legislative process is too slow and complicated, she said.

“In a state with little diversity, politicians fear that restoring voting rights will enfranchise people of color who will vote against them,” Mendel-Reyes said. “The reality is that felons are white too, but there is a stereotype about African Americans, in particular, being more likely to commit crimes.”

The disenfranchisement of former felons in the state has a disproportionate impact on African Americans, according to a report by the Kentucky Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

While blacks are only around 7 percent of the state’s population, more than 30 percent of Kentucky’s total prison population is African American. As a result, one out of every four African American adults in Kentucky cannot vote, the report stated.

This rate is nearly triple the national African American disenfranchisement rate, according to the study by the LWVK.

The Kentucky Constitution does allow for the restoration of voting rights to felons at the discretion of the governor.

In an attempt to streamline the executive pardon process, the state passed legislation in 2001 which resulted in more than 2,000 restored voters in the following two years.

However, in 2004, former Gov. Ernie Fletcher instituted new policies for applicants that included: a written statement detailing their convictions and sentences served; a written statement on why the person believes he/she should have their voting rights restored; three character references; and a processing fee.

Additionally, the application had to be presented to prosecutors in the jurisdiction where the applicant lives and where the felony was committed to get another opinion on whether voting rights should be restored.

The percentage of approved applications declined from 97.2 percent in fiscal year 2002-2003 to 49.3 percent after the implementation of the new policies.

John McCarthy, assistant to the former governor, told the Kentucky Advisory Committee that he generally is in favor of allowing ex-felons the right to vote, however, he felt restoration should not be automatic.

“I do not think the state Constitution needs to be amended ... voting is both a privilege and a right that is given to a citizen, and in a society one must follow the rules or there are consequences ... ex-felons are persons who made bad choices, and they should have to demonstrate to the general society that there are others in the community willing to stand and vouch for them ...  before their rights are fully restored,” he said.

 Despite a strong desire to vote, the obstacles created by the 2004 restoration process would deter over half of would-be applicants, according to a study by The Sentencing Project, a national non-profit organization that researches criminal justice policy issues.

The organization surveyed persons with felony convictions in Kentucky and concluded that many of the respondents did not have the skills or resources to complete the application process. Thirty percent of respondents did not have a high school diploma or GED and 83 percent had little or no experience in writing a formal written statement, according to the survey.

In 2008, Gov. Steve Beshear issued an executive order that eliminated the fee, the essay and the three character references previously required for a pardon. Additionally, the new executive pardon process only requires notification to prosecutors where the felony was committed.

At the time, former Secretary of State Trey Grayson said the new process would “balance our responsibility to seek restitution for our communities and families with our moral obligation to forgive.”

The Kentucky Advisory Committee pointed out, however, that the “executive clemency process in Kentucky is governed only by executive order, and there is neither statute nor regulation that must be followed by the governor in the granting of clemency.” The committee recommended that be corrected to ensure that the right to vote is protected.

For some of the prisoners/ex-felons Parm works with, not having the right to vote is “just another thing kicking them down, along with finding a job or a place to live,” he said. “It can be very disheartening for those who have paid their debt to society. They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to, they’ve jumped through all the hoops and now they have to keep jumping.”

Parm believes if Kentuckians are given the opportunity to amend the constitution, they will decide in favor of automatic voting right restoration.

There are a lot of people in Kentucky who have family members and friends who have been in prison and are subjected to these restrictions, he said.

“The right to vote may seem like a little thing to a lot of people,” said Parm, “but if I was someone who wants to vote, who wants to do the right thing, who wants to participate in my community, why don’t you let me do that?”

Crystal Wylie can be reached at cwylie@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, ext. 6696.