In an article published by the New York Times on November 4 written by Michael Wines, Kentuckians who have lost their voting rights for life due to felony charges are interviewed and discuss the effects this rule has on elections. Nearly 6.2 million citizens cannot vote or hold office because they have felony records. Florida, Kentucky, and Iowa impose lifelong bans on voting for those with a criminal history. In Kentucky, nearly 1 in 10 of the state's adults, 1 in 4 African-Americans, are banned from voting, the highest rate of black disenfranchisement in the country. This article is important to read knowing that the midterm elections are coming up this Tuesday, November 6th. There has been lots of encouragement on social media for people to vote, but it's disheartening to see so many people who may have had minor, non-violent charges prevented from partaking. This story connects to the movements in the 1800s to give different disenfranchised groups the basic right to vote.
I recommend you read the article as it includes many interesting quotes: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/04/us/felony-vote-disenfranchisement-kentucky-florida.html
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