CHAPTER 7
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1
CHAPTER 7
( SB 143 )
AN ACT proposing to amend Sections 145 and 155 of the Constitution of Kentucky relating to persons
entitled to vote.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
Section 1. Are you in favor of amending Sections 145 and 155 of the Constitution of Kentucky to prohibit
persons who are not citizens of the United States from being allowed to vote in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, as
stated below?
Section 2. It is proposed that Section 145 of the Constitution of Kentucky be amended to read as follows:
Every citizen of the United States of the age of eighteen years who has resided in the state one year, and in the
county six months, and the precinct in which he or she offers to vote sixty days next preceding the election, shall be a
voter in said precinct and not elsewhere. No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be allowed to vote
in this state.[ but] The following persons also[are excepted and] shall not have the right to vote:[.]
1. Persons convicted in any court of competent jurisdiction of treason, or felony, or bribery in an election,
or of such high misdemeanor as the General Assembly may declare shall operate as an exclusion from the right of
suffrage, but persons hereby excluded may be restored to their civil rights by executive pardon.
2. Persons who, at the time of the election, are in confinement under the judgment of a court for some
penal offense.
3. Idiots and insane persons.
Section 3. It is proposed that Section 155 of the Constitution of Kentucky be amended to read as follows:
The provisions of Sections 145 to 154, inclusive, shall not apply to the election of school trustees and other
common school district elections. Said elections shall be regulated by the General Assembly, except as otherwise
provided in this Constitution. No person who is not a citizen of the United States shall be allowed to vote in said
elections.
Section 4. This amendment shall be submitted to the voters of the Commonwealth for their ratification or
rejection at the time and in the manner provided for under Sections 256 and 257 of the Constitution, KRS 118.415,
and Sections 5 and 6 of this Act.
Section 5. Notwithstanding any provision of KRS 118.415 to the contrary, the Secretary of State shall
cause the entirety of the question in Section 1 of this Act and the entirety of the proposed amendment to the
Constitution of Kentucky contained in Sections 2 and 3 of this Act to be published at least one time in a newspaper of
general circulation published in this state, and shall also cause to be published at the same time and in the same
manner the fact that the amendment will be submitted to the voters for their acceptance or rejection at the next regular
election at which members of the General Assembly are to be voted for. The publication required by this section and
KRS 118.415 shall be made no later than the first Tuesday in August preceding the election at which the amendment
is to be voted on.
Section 6. Notwithstanding any provision of KRS 118.415 to the contrary, the Secretary of State, not later
than the second Monday after the second Tuesday in August preceding the next regular election at which members of
the General Assembly are to be chosen in a year in which there is not an election for President and Vice President of
the United States, or not later than the Thursday after the first Tuesday in September preceding a regular election in a
year in which there is an election for President and Vice President of the United States, shall certify the entirety of the
question in Section 1 of this Act and the entirety of the proposed amendment to the Constitution of Kentucky
contained in Sections 2 and 3 of this Act to the county clerk of each county, and the county clerk shall have the
entirety of the question and the amendment, as so certified, indicated on the ballots provided to the voters in paper or
electronic form as applicable to the voting machines in use in each county or precinct.
Governor's signature not required.