After hitting the ground running last week with a voter registration table on the first day of classes, tabling at the student involvement fair, and posting flyers on campus, tonight was the first UK KFTC meeting of the 2010-2011 academic year.

Nearly all of the active UK KFTC leaders of last year have graduated, are taking a semester abroad, or have had to step back because of heavy school or work obligations, but new UK KFTC leader Callie Thomas has really stepped up to recruit new activists and to revive the organization on campus.  It's paid off with a dozen students coming out to this first meeting.

The group spent some time getting to know each other, learning about KFTC, and brainstorming ideas of things they might be able to accomplish this semester.  Ideas included film showings, voter registration activities, and campaigns to raise awareness of CSAs, locally created goods, and Farmers Markets.

We recruited three new KFTC members at the meeting and scheduled a campus Voter Registration tabling for next week on Thursday, September 9th from 11am to 3pm outside near the Journalism building.

"I hope to live in Kentucky for my whole life.  It's worth it to fight to make it the best possible place for all of us"     - Callie Thomas

UK KFTC meet every Wednesday at 7pm in UK Student Center room 111.  All UK students interested in our work are encouraged to attend!

On Saturday night, the folks at the Kentucky Theatre were nice enough to let us set up a table for their monthly showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show. The showing coincided with a free movie night for University of Kentucky students, making it a great opportunity to register some voters. Central Kentucky members registered voters, collected voting rights postcards, and handed out invitations to KFTC meetings to folks dressed in all of their Rocky Horror glory. We invited a number of students out to the UK campus meetings and had a great conversation with a man who is working to get his voting rights back.

Later on in the week, we will be continuing this great work at the Transit Center on Thursday and at the North Lexington wedding of Tanya Ferguson and Christian Torp on Saturday. Hope to see y'all there! 

A North Lexington couple is using the grand occasion of their wedding next weekend to share good fortune, food, and a little voter empowerment with everyone in their community.

Christian Torp and Tanya Ferguson, both KFTC members, expect to feed about 800 people at their wedding, to which everyone in their neighborhood is invited.

KFTC will be there to register voters and to talk to people about our campaign to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society.

If you'd like to volunteer to help us table and canvass this unique community event, let us know.

Also, click here for the LEX18 news story about the wedding that they ran yesterday.

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8/30 Update - Merlene Davis also did a great story about Christian and Tayna.  Check out the link here

On Wednesday, University of Kentucky KFTC members were on campus tabling in honor of the first day of classes. We registered a total of 76 voters on their way to and from class! We invited folks out to the first meeting of the semester on September 1st. UK KFTC will meet every Wednesday at 7pm in the Student Center.

On Thursday, UK KFTC President Callie Thomas and volunteers tabled at the Student Involvement Fair. Alongside other campus organizations, we talked to students about what our organization does and handed information about our issue campaigns.

We're expecting a great turnout for the first meeting and a productive year for UK KFTC!

KFTC members Janet Tucker and Tayna Fogle took turns this past weekend visiting the East End Reunion in Lexington, registering voters and talking about restoration of voting rights for former felons. 

The day started out slow, but by 7 p.m., the event had attracted many hundreds of participants.

Tayna Fogle returned with over 100 postcards filled out, calling on our legislators to restore voting rights to all former felons who have served their debt to society.  She also took the opportunity to take the microphone and do a little mass education about the issue.

"It was so much fun," Tayna said.  "We met a lot of people who are really with us that night."

In the past few weeks, KFTC members have been tabling all over Central Kentucky with voter empowerment as our main message. Last Friday, we talked to folks at the Job Corps Summer Bash in North Lexington. There, we met a lot of young people who were registering to vote for the first time and talked to folks about our voting rights campaign. A lot of the crowd was new to Kentucky and surprised by the state’s felon disenfranchisement policy. Members had some interesting conversations while passing along information about our work.

On Saturday, Central Kentucky KFTC members tabled alongside other Lexington organizations at Hope in the City in Douglass Park. The focus of the event was to raise HIV awareness in Lexington communities, and many booths featured messages of empowerment. Members were glad to be there talking to folks about registering to vote and our campaign to restore voting rights to former felons. Visitors to the table commented again and again on how important voter empowerment is, especially in communities that sometimes feel powerless. All in all, we registered about 15 new voters, talked to some folks who were really excited about our ongoing work, and filled out plenty of voting rights postcards!

"Coal execs hope to spend big under new rules to defeat Conway and Chandler"

By John Cheves

Excerpted from the Lexington Herald-Leader

Several major coal companies hope to use newly loosened campaign-finance laws to pool their money and defeat Democratic congressional candidates they consider “anti-coal,” including U.S. Senate nominee Jack Conway and U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler in Kentucky.

The companies hope to create a politically active nonprofit under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, so they won’t have to publicly disclose their activities — such as advertising — until they file a tax return next year, long after the Nov. 2 election.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last winter that corporations and labor unions may pour unlimited funds into such efforts to influence elections.

“With the recent Supreme Court ruling, we are in a position to be able to take corporate positions that were not previously available in allowing our voices to be heard,” wrote Roger Nicholson, senior vice president and general counsel at International Coal Group of Scott Depot, W.Va., in an undated letter he sent to other coal companies.

Nicholson declined to comment on his letter Tuesday, after the Herald-Leader obtained it.

For the full story, click here to visit the Lexington Herald-Leader's Bluegrass Politics blog.

On Tuesday, Central Kentucky members visited the Hope Center in Lexington to talk about voter empowerment. The Hope Center is a center for the homeless that provides shelter, food, clothing, social services, and a number of programs designed to deal with the underlying causes of homelessness.

Members visited the men's shelter at dinnertime and had some incredible conversations, registering 25 new voters. One man told us that he didn't feel comfortable voting, because he didn't feel informed. After hearing about the KFTC voter guide, he decided to register to vote and read up before the November election.

While at the Hope Center, we met many men who had lost their right to vote because of a felony in their past. Members educated them about the process to restore their voting rights and handed out forms and other information. We found a lot of support for House Bill 70, and had some great conversations about our efforts to restore voting rights. 

Voting in Kentucky as a homeless person can be difficult. The voter registration card asks for an address, which is not always available. Many shelters, like the Hope Center, allow their address to be used. Also, some county clerks will allow homeless individuals to use their offices' address in order to register. You can call your clerk to find out how they handle voters without addresses.

For more information about the Hope Center, you can visit their website at www.hopectr.org.

Later this month, on Saturday, July 31st, we'll have our third Singing For Democracy event, this one in Georgetown, at 5pm at the Ed Davis Learning Center (140 Ed Davis Ln, Georgetown). 

We've had Singing For Democracy Gospel Fest in Lexington and Louisville in the past seven months, each bringing choirs and former felons together to fight felony disenfranchisement in the names of justice, faith, forgiveness, recovery, and music. 

Nearly 600 people have attended the Louisville or Lexington events and we're hoping to organize a large group to come out in Scott County, partially because that is the home town of Senator Damon Thayer, the man who has so far refused to hear our bill to re-enfranchise former felons who have served their debt to society. 

This should be a powerful event that brings together local church choirs and others to talk about Voting Rights in Thayer's hometown. 

And here are some smaller events to help plan and publicize it.  If you can come out to these, it would be a big help, particularly if you live in Scott County.

- July 15th – Scott Co Singing For Democracy Planning Meeting - 7pm, outside of the Ed Davis Learning Center.
- July 22nd – Scott Co Singing For Democracy Planning Meeting - 7pm, outside of the Ed Davis Learning Center.
- Sunday, July 25th – Whistle-stop tour of Churches to invite them out to the Gospel Fest
- Tuesday, July 27th – Meet at the Ed Davis Learning Center at 5pm to canvass the Boston and neighborhood and leave door-hangers for Singing For Democracy.  Then, pass out handbills at the basketball game at the Ed Davis Learning Center at 6:30pm.
- Thursday, July 29th – Meet at the Ed Davis Learning Center at 5pm to canvass the Boston and neighborhood and leave door-hangers for Singing For Democracy.  Then, pass out handbills at the basketball game at the Ed Davis Learning Center at 6:30pm.

for more information about this event, contact Tayna Fogle at 859-699-8073 or Dave Newton at 859-420-8919 or Dave@kftc.org

The Highlander Center is working with KFTC to produce a set of digital stories, about our campaign to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society. 

The stories will mostly be in the voice of former felons themselves, telling their stories of what it is like to be excluded from our democracy in Kentucky.  The final product should be unveiled in July.

If you know a former felon or a family member of a former felon who would be good to interview as part of this process, please contact Dave Newton at Dave@kftc.org. 

We'll also be shooting footage of field events for the next week or so.  Below are some pictures of Restoration of Voting Rights for Former Felons field work at Douglas Park in Lexington this past weekend.  We helped many dozens of former felons to start the process of requesting a partial pardon from the Governor and over 100 signed postcards to legislators calling on them to restore voting rights to all former felons.  The below pictures were taken by William Isom II.