Rowan County members held a Bake Sale for the Budget on the campus of Morehead State University yesterday.

It was great!  We got about 80 people to sign on in support of adequate budgets and fair taxes, had lots of good conversations about the tax/budget/tuition relationship, and raised about $70 for the state budget that we'll deliver to the Governor's office.

Rowan County members' baking abilities are legendary, and they sure didn't disappoint yesterday! 

Five members baked up plates of brownies, buckeyes, blondies, cookies, and lemon bars.  Another group of six came out to talk with folks about the implications of letting our budget needs fester, and the real solutions in HB 13.

The President of MSU even stopped by to talk about the effects of the budget cuts on Morehead.

Thanks to everyone who pitched in!

Kentuckians For The Commonwealth strongly believes that we need better candidates if we want better decisions made in state and local government – and we want YOU to seriously think about what it would be like to run for office or to help one of your friends run.

Come to a powerful, energetic weekend at the beautiful Hindman Settlement School where we’ll build skills, connections, and confidence to work on elections or run for public office.

Led in partnership with Wellstone Action, a national center for training and leadership development for progressives, workshops topics will include campaign planning and budgeting, telling your story, grassroots voter contact, fundraising, base-building, stump speeches, developing a winning message and more.

For more information and to register online, Click Here.

     

This week Governor Steve Beshear released his proposals for dealing with the state’s latest revenue crisis — a mix of further cuts to state programs and services, a 70-cent cigarette tax increase, a three-day furlough for state workers, and taking money from the rainy day fund and restricted funds.

Some of what the plan does:

• cuts funding for higher education by 2%.
  
• cuts funding for child protective services.
• does nothing for the $180 million Medicaid shortfall
• cuts funding for county attorneys by about $1.1 million
• cuts funding for commonwealth's attorneys by $1.3 million
  
• takes about $40 million from "restricted" funds, including about $17 million from coal severance tax revenue, and diverts the money into the General Fund.
  
• takes $179 million from the state's "rainy day fund"
  
• mandates that state workers (who only got 1% cost-of-living raises last year, anyway, because of the budget cuts) take a 3-day unpaid furlough, saving the state about $8 million.
  

You can read more about the governor's plan in this Courier-Journal article, which includes some helpful budget and funding graphs.

How you can weigh in

Governor Beshear is holding Town Forums in Ashland, Hazard, and Dry Ridge to gather reactions to the revenue crisis, budget cuts and the cigarette tax increase.  Can you go?  Here are some talking points that KFTC members recommend:

• Yes, Kentucky needs to raise the cigarette tax to improve the health and well-being of Kentuckians.  Thank you for supporting this increase and leading the way for its passage in this session.
• The cigarette tax increase alone, however, will not answer Kentucky's need for new and more revenue, nor is it comprehensive tax reform.
• Please show leadership in real revenue reforms that do more than plug some of the holes, and in tax reforms that make taxes fairer to lower-income families who are already contributing more than their fair share.
  

Members are planning rides to the events in Hazard and Ashland, so call Jessica Hays if you'd like information about carpooling — 859.533.0613. 

Here is the schedule for the Town Forums:

■  6 p.m. Monday: Ashland town hall at Ashland Community and Technical College, J.B. Sowards Theatre, 1400 College Drive.

■  6 p.m. Wednesday: Hazard town hall at the Hal Rogers Center, 101 Bulldog Road.

■  7 p.m. Dec. 18: Dry Ridge town hall at Grant County High School auditorium, 715 Warsaw Road.

 You can read more about the forums in this Herald-Leader article.  Go and voice your support for better health, but also for leadership in truly moving Kentucky forward!

   When Rowan County's Election Officer Judge arrived at the Courthouse at 5:40 AM, she was greeted by an unexpected surprise: a line. "We've never seen anything like this," she reported. According to Judge Isaac, by 1pm, voter turnout had exceeded expectations. Another official commented that 90% of voters, arriving before 10am were Morehead State University students.  KFTC, which registered voters county wide, conducted a lengthy voter registration drive on MSU's campus--an effort which seems to have materialized at the polls today. Hundreds of first time voters showed up today, including (pictured left to right) Curtis Way, Chris Shafik, HJ Adams, Bradley Bryan and Nathan Blume.

   Way, Adams, Bryan and Blume registered to vote on Morehead's campus. Shafik (second from left) is an Australian national who, although unable to cast his own vote, came along to support his friends and witness this historic election.

   According to Adams, "if young voters turn out today, they will significantly impact local and national elections."

  In other news, the Morehead City Transit system will shuttle folks to the polls for free today.  Volunteers could not convince local businesses to fund the endeavor. However, we just learned a few days ago that the Morehead City Transit will, in the name of democracy, provide free rides to the polls. We offer our sincere thanks, and look forward to riding the bus.

  Everyone agrees that they will be watching closely. No matter the outcome: Democracy wins in Rowan County.

                                                              - Paul Lovelace

All year, KFTC’s non-partisan Voter Empowerment campaign has had a tremendous presence and impact all across the Commonwealth, but this has been especially true in the last two months leading to the General Election on November 6^th.

Our fingerprint was everywhere – from Northern Kentucky to Western Kentucky, Central Kentucky, Louisville, and many area in Eastern Kentucky.  This campaign may have seen more quality ground work in communities spread all across the state than anything KFTC has taken on since the Broad Form Deed campaign in 1988. 

Everywhere we went, we registered voters, talked to people about issues that are important to them, and provided non-partisan information about where candidates stood on issues.  In many ways, that’s a simple concept for a campaign, but the effect it’s had on our Democracy seems to be huge. 

Members in Bowling Green staked spaces at a local coffee shop and a local grocery store and turned their homes into GOTV (Get Out The Vote) centers.  They spoke with voters they'd met in door-to-door walks, on WKU's campus, on the community college's campus, and even at the local grocery store.  They turned out voters, coordinated rides to the polls, and made sure that people had everything they needed to get out and vote.

In response to a great Springfield visit days before the election by KFTC members and former felon spokesperson Tayna Fogle, Deacon Gus Cooper said, "Tayna Fogle primed Springfield to vote by talking with people about her own experiences with getting her voter rights restored.  I know she moved people, and I know that because she was here, and because she talked about her own struggles and how important it's been for her to vote, people who probably don't usually vote, voted on Tuesday."

In Central Kentucky, members registered close to 1,000 voters at dozens of community events, then called thousands of fellow KFTC members, voters we’ve registered and people who’ve signed petitions to remind them to vote and help eliminate obstacles that might prevent them from voting. 

On Election Day itself, 25-30 Central Kentucky members helped connect people with 40 rides to the polls, passed out election information at local grocery stores, campuses, and in downtown Lexington, and even ran a Sound Car around town to remind people to vote through a large speaker system. 

University of Kentucky students played an especially strong role this year, leading a voter registration and mobilization effort on campus with tabling after tabling, but also special fun events such as the Concert For The Commonwealth that brought many students out to learn about issues and the election in a way that was a lot of fun.  “It’s just incredible what we’ve managed to accomplish this year,” UK KFTC Co-Coordinator Matt Harmin remarked at a KFTC Election Returns party late on Election Day. “It’s empowering and exciting to imagine what we can do next year.”

Northern Kentucky Voter Mobilization work focused on raising awareness of Restoration of Voting Rights for Former Felons.  We got hundreds of people to sign postcards to restore voting rights, then contacted those same people again, asking them to use their right to vote if they had it.  It seemed to be an especially strong way to connect with voters there.

Eastern Kentucky chapters also made a big difference in their communities.  In Harlan and Perry counties, for example, we had phone banks and Election Day events like passing out voter guides at the Catholic Church food pantry, Southeast Community College, and even sent some along with chicken dinner deliveries as part of a local social club. 

"I really enjoyed making phone calls because I feel like it made a difference, especially with the people who weren't sure where to vote  or if they were going to vote; they really didn't know who to contact… Too many people don't vote.  We lose our voice when people do that.  I'm afraid  if
more people don't exercise their right to vote, we'll lose it,”  said Theresa Banks, new member from Harlan County.

We contacted hundreds of Eastern Kentuckians who signed our petitions through outreach at the community colleges, the local high schools, local festivals, and door-to-door conversations in low-income housing developments.

"I thought it was fun.  It was fun to call people and learn about  getting to vote since I'm not old enough yet.  I got to pass out voter guides to people and learn about why people vote and how they decide who to vote for," said Deven Nantz, an 8^th grader and new Harlan County KFTC member who joined KFTC on Election Day

In Louisville and Madison County work also was intense with community events, voter mobilization calls, and great ground work. 

One especially strong resource provided by KFTC across the state in this Election was our Voter Guide.  We asked all 12 candidates running for statewide office to answer a series of questions on their stances, then published 10,000 copies of those answers, along with other useful information and distributed this far and wide. 

KFTC also made a lot of contacts through email and other electronic means, sending voter mobilization and education emails to more than 10,000 recipients encouraging them to visit our election web site,  www.KentuckyElection.org. Also, through Facebook, 2,000 KFTC supporters pledged to vote on Election Day.

Looking ahead to the 2008 Election, when there will be a Presidential election, Mitch McConnell’s US Senate seat will be up, and there will be many Kentucky legislative races across the state, KFTC members are evaluating what we did well and what can be done better in our Voter Empowerment work.  We plan on building a larger and larger critical base of informed and motivated voters year after year to have a greater and greater fundamental impact on how Elections are won.  Next year will be an important year for this campaign and KFTC members are looking forward to the challenge. 

Do you know when the Voter Registration Deadline is? In the state of Kentucky, it depends on who you ask.

In an attempt to check KFTC’s Election Calendar, we called the State Board of Elections and several County Clerk’s offices throughout the state to verify the Voter Registration date, but got conflicting information.

Kentucky law states that the voter registration Deadline is 28 days before the Election (which in this case falls on November 6th.) Therefore, the voter registration deadline should be on Monday, October 8th… except that’s when Columbus Day is observed.  In accordance with Kentucky Law, the registration deadline should therefore be moved back a day to Tuesday, October 9th.

Two separate staff members at the State Board of Elections, as well as their website claim instead that the Voter Registration deadline is on Wednesday, October 10th.

We called 12 County Clerks of the largest counties in the state with a good mix of different geographic areas and got very different information.

Jefferson, Fayette, Woodford, Madison, Casey, and Pike County Clerk’s Offices confirm the date of the deadline as Tuesday, October 9th.  But Laurel, Rowan, McCracken, Daviess, and Kenton County Clerks claim the deadline is the 8th. Only Henderson’s County Clerk said it was the October 10th.

To sum up, logic and the majority of County Clerk offices we surveyed say it’s the 9th, the State Board and one County Clerk surveyed say it’s the 10th, and a large minority of County Clerk offices say it’s the 8th.

The voters should rightly be confused. How can non-profit organizations like KFTC run effective voter registration campaigns if we don’t even know when the voter registration deadline is? How many people won’t be able to cast their vote because of all of this confusion?

Please Contact your local County Clerk and ask them to clarify this.

Or call the State Board of Elections at (502) 573-7100. 

UPDATE 9/11/07: The Kentucky Secretary of State has quietly changed its announced voter registration deadline on its on the front page of its website from October 10th to October 9th.  Thanks to everyone who helped to raise awareness of this error and who called to put pressure on the Board of Elections. 

We can comfortably say that the Voter Registration Deadline is October 9th.