From Daily Kos: Voting Rights Roundup: Democrat running for Kentucky governor could restore voting rights to 140,000
By STEPHEN WOLF
Kentucky: On Tuesday, state Attorney General Andy Beshear won the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Gov. Matt Bevin in November, setting up a contest whose outcome will determine whether roughly 140,000 individuals regain the right to vote.
Kentucky is one of just two remaining statesthat impose a lifetime ban on voting by anyone convicted of a felony (the other is Iowa), but the governor has the power to unilaterally restore the voting rights of those who have completed their sentences. Beshear has pledged to do exactly this via executive order for citizens convicted of nonviolent felonies.
Beshear's promise to use executive power to restore voting rights comes after his father, former Gov. Steve Beshear, tried to do the very same thing as his own tenure drew to a close in 2015. The elder Beshear issued just such an executive order, only to see Bevin reverse it two weeks after being sworn into office.