LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Last week, the Jefferson County Circuit Court dismissed a lawsuit brought by Fair Elections Center and Jackson Cooper Law that challenged the state’s exclusion of people with out‑of‑state felony convictions from its automatic voting rights restoration process. In doing so, the ruling upholds the current rights restoration policy in Kentucky, which treats out-of-state convictions differently from in-state convictions. Fair Elections Center and Jackson Cooper Law plan to appeal the decision.
“We respectfully disagree with the court’s interpretation of the law,” said Jon Sherman, Litigation Director at Fair Elections Center. “Nothing in Kentucky’s Constitution permits the state to impose different rules on people with out‑of‑state convictions, and Kentucky courts, not only may, but must, intervene when the Governor violates equal protection. Otherwise, in exercising their clemency powers, governors could discriminate against Kentuckians on the basis of race, sex, or other impermissible criteria. We will appeal this decision.”
Background: In 2019, Gov. Beshear issued an executive order that automatically restored voting rights to over 100,000 Kentuckians who completed their felony sentences for nonviolent crimes. While a step in the right direction, the executive order excluded those whose convictions occurred in another state—forcing these individuals to navigate costly and time‑consuming pardon or expungement processes. In January 2026, Fair Elections Center and Jackson Cooper Law filed a lawsuit asking the court to recognize the unconstitutional nature of these separate systems and expand automatic voting rights restoration to all Kentuckians with nonviolent crimes—regadless of whether the incidents occurred in-state.
The full ruling can be read here. The press release on our filing can be found here.