Vote NO on KY Amendment 1.

In Kentucky’s “throw away the key” system of mass incarceration, where our parole board offers little meaningful relief, the governor is one of the last compassionate safety valves left.Amendment 1 would weaken that safety valve by limiting a governor’s ability to grant mercy 60 days prior to a gubernatorial election. That is why a no vote matters: it preserves one of the few remaining checks in a system that too often leaves deserving people with no meaningful path to relief.

Future governors may make some mistakes. But for people who truly deserve a commutation, an expungement, or a pardon, Kentucky is better served by preserving the system that has allowed governors to grant mercy since 1792.

Our family benefited immensely when a loved one was pardoned in 2019 just as former Governor Matt Bevin left office. Without that pardon, our loved one would not have even appeared before Kentucky’s dysfunctional parole board until 2027. We can never thank the former governor enough.