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Advocacy Based on Lived Experience of Kentucky (ABLE KY)

Location:

Louisville, KY
Type:

Local Advocacy Group
Formation:

2023
Fiscal Sponsor:

Kentucky Civic Engagement Table

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Advocacy Based on Lived Experience of Kentucky (ABLE KY) is an advocacy group that focuses on restoring voting rights for formerly incarcerated Kentuckians. 1 Marcus Jackson, who was formerly incarcerated, is the founder and executive of ABLE KY, which is fiscally sponsored by the Kentucky Civic Engagement Table. 2

The group seeks to amend the Kentucky constitution to remove a section that permanent bans of people with felony convictions from voting. 3

Background

Advocacy Based on Lived Experience of Kentucky (ABLE KY) is a nonprofit organization that primarily focuses on restoring voting for formerly incarcerated individuals in the state. 4 The group claims 160,000 people in Kentucky cannot vote because of a felony conviction. 5

Marcus Jackson, who was formerly incarcerated, is the founder and executive director of ABLE KY. 6 The group is fiscally sponsored by the Kentucky Civic Engagement Table, which says it supports more “equity” in the state. 7

The ABLE KY mission statement says it supports Kentuckians impacted by felony disenfranchisement, incarceration, addiction, or any combination of those problems. 8

Upon its 2023 founding, ABLE KY announced it planned to launch a re-entry program for those who are released from prisons and jails. 9

Issue and Political Advocacy

Advocacy Based on Lived Experience of Kentucky supports amending the Kentucky constitution to remove a section that permanently bans people with felonies from voting. 10

The organization also calls for doing away with Kentucky’s persistent felony offender law that enhances sentencing for repeat offenders. 11

Upon its 2023 launch, ABLE KY aimed to register 15,000 formerly incarcerated Kentuckians to vote and collect 5,000 pledges to vote from those people. 12

The organization held pre-election gatherings across the state in November 2023 ahead of that year’s Kentucky governor’s race where it invited public officials from the state legislature as well as city and county governments to speak. 13 14

Founder

Marcus Jackson is the founder and executive director of Advocacy Based on Lived Experience of Kentucky. 15

Jackson was a scholarship football player at the University of Louisville before he was arrested and imprisoned at age 19 for assault and wanton endangerment, offenses that Jackson maintains he did not commit. Jackson said the prison experience changed the trajectory of his life, and he was in prison after being convicted for two non-violent drug offenses over the next three decades. 16

After being released from prison in 2019, Jackson worked on restoring voting rights for people who were incarcerated as coordinator of the Smart Justice Advocates program at the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky and before that as a paralegal at the Louisville Urban League. 17 18

References

  1. Stawiszynski, Gillian. “Pre-election day event set for Nicholasville Town Center.” Jessamine Journal. October 30, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.jessaminejournal.com/2023/10/30/pre-election-day-event-set-for-nicholasville-town-center/
  2. Operle, Derek. “Paducah native launches nonprofit aimed at amplifying voices of formerly incarcerated people.” WKMS. March 30, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.wkms.org/criminal-justice/2023-03-30/paducah-native-launches-nonprofit-aimed-at-amplifying-voices-of-formerly-incarcerated-people
  3. Torrellas, Geraldine. “Voting rights advocacy group hosts pre-election gatherings across Kentucky.” Spectrum News. November 5, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2023/11/05/community-gathering
  4. “ABLE KY.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/company/able-ky/
  5. Torrellas, Geraldine. “Voting rights advocacy group hosts pre-election gatherings across Kentucky.” Spectrum News. November 5, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2023/11/05/community-gathering
  6. “Marcus Jackson.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-jackson-179024178/
  7. Operle, Derek. “Paducah native launches nonprofit aimed at amplifying voices of formerly incarcerated people.” WKMS. March 30, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.wkms.org/criminal-justice/2023-03-30/paducah-native-launches-nonprofit-aimed-at-amplifying-voices-of-formerly-incarcerated-people
  8. Stawiszynski, Gillian. “Pre-election day event set for Nicholasville Town Center.” Jessamine Journal. October 30, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.jessaminejournal.com/2023/10/30/pre-election-day-event-set-for-nicholasville-town-center/
  9. Operle, Derek. “Paducah native launches nonprofit aimed at amplifying voices of formerly incarcerated people.” WKMS. March 30, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.wkms.org/criminal-justice/2023-03-30/paducah-native-launches-nonprofit-aimed-at-amplifying-voices-of-formerly-incarcerated-people
  10. Torrellas, Geraldine. “Voting rights advocacy group hosts pre-election gatherings across Kentucky.” Spectrum News. November 5, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2023/11/05/community-gathering
  11. Operle, Derek. “Paducah native launches nonprofit aimed at amplifying voices of formerly incarcerated people.” WKMS. March 30, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.wkms.org/criminal-justice/2023-03-30/paducah-native-launches-nonprofit-aimed-at-amplifying-voices-of-formerly-incarcerated-people
  12. Operle, Derek. “Paducah native launches nonprofit aimed at amplifying voices of formerly incarcerated people.” WKMS. March 30, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.wkms.org/criminal-justice/2023-03-30/paducah-native-launches-nonprofit-aimed-at-amplifying-voices-of-formerly-incarcerated-people
  13. [1] Torrellas, Geraldine. “Voting rights advocacy group hosts pre-election gatherings across Kentucky.” Spectrum News. November 5, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2023/11/05/community-gathering
  14. Stawiszynski, Gillian. “Pre-election day event set for Nicholasville Town Center.” Jessamine Journal. October 30, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.jessaminejournal.com/2023/10/30/pre-election-day-event-set-for-nicholasville-town-center/
  15. “Marcus Jackson.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-jackson-179024178/
  16. Operle, Derek. “Paducah native launches nonprofit aimed at amplifying voices of formerly incarcerated people.” WKYU. March 30, 2023. Accessed April 18, 2024. https://www.wkyufm.org/2023-03-30/paducah-native-launches-nonprofit-aimed-at-amplifying-voices-of-formerly-incarcerated-people
  17. “Marcus Jackson.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 29, 2024.https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-jackson-179024178/
  18. Operle, Derek. “Paducah native launches nonprofit aimed at amplifying voices of formerly incarcerated people.” WKMS. March 30, 2023. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://www.wkms.org/criminal-justice/2023-03-30/paducah-native-launches-nonprofit-aimed-at-amplifying-voices-of-formerly-incarcerated-people
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Advocacy Based on Lived Experience of Kentucky (ABLE KY)


Louisville, KY