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From the Louisville Courier-Journal: Gov. Andy Beshear restores voting rights to more than 140,000 nonviolent Kentucky felons

Berry Craig
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By CHRIS KENNINGTON and JONATHAN BULLINGTON

FRANKFORT — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday signed an executive order to automatically restore the right to vote to more than 140,000 convicted felons with completed sentences, cutting down one of the nation’s highest rates of voter disenfranchisement.

The move largely restored the 2015 order issued by his father, former Gov. Steve Beshear, which was quickly nixed by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, who narrowly lost his re-election bid last month.

"I believe in the law," Beshear said. "I also believe in redemption, in second chances."

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