Louisville Courier-Journal

Excerpts from a Wednesday editorial: Gov. Ernie Fletcher's addition of more hoops for felons to jump through before having their right to vote restored may strike some as no big deal.

If you do the crime, you do the time, they will say, ignoring that the people in question have, in fact, done their time.

Even before Fletcher came up with new rules, Kentucky law required that ex-cons wishing to vote not have outstanding warrants, charges or indictments, and they must have paid restitution as ordered.

But the governor wants more blood from these turnips.

He's given prosecutors a say over whether the people they've sent to prison should be permitted to vote. He's also added the requirement that applicants get three character references and tell him in writing why they should be allowed to vote.

Intentionally or not, the latter requirement sounds suspiciously like a literacy test, which used to be a favored tool for suppressing the black vote. Most Kentucky felons aren't black, you say. Yes, but many are.

Kentucky is one of only six states with no provision for automatically restoring felons' voting rights after they've served their time. Indiana does it, and isn't suffering. It's time for Kentucky to erase from its books this vestige of a terrible era.