Amendment 1: The Pardon Question

Kentucky, 2026 general election

Every Kentucky voter will see one statewide question at the end of this year's ballot. It's long, and it's written in the language of constitutions, so it's easy to skim. This page slows it down.

As with everything in Ace the Midterms, this page won't tell you how to vote. It explains what the amendment would do, where it came from, and the arguments on each side, so that whatever you mark, you mark it knowing what it means.

What a Yes or a No would do

Today, Section 77 of the Kentucky Constitution lets the governor grant pardons and commute sentences at any time, except in cases of impeachment.

A Yes vote adds a second exception: no pardons and no commutations from 60 days before an election for governor until the fifth Tuesday after it, the day the next term begins. The amendment's sponsor describes that as about 90 days in every four years. The limit applies to whoever holds the office, whether they're running again, retiring, or have just lost.

A No vote keeps the current rule: a governor can pardon or commute at any point in the term.

What stays the same either way: the governor still files a public statement of reasons with every pardon, which Section 77 already requires. The rules for treason and for fines and forfeitures don't change, and pardons issued outside the window aren't affected.

Why it matters on this ballot but not in this election: the window only opens around elections for governor, and the next one is in November 2027. If the amendment passes, the first time it would apply is roughly early September to early December 2027.

Where it came from

The amendment traces to December 2019. After losing re-election, Governor Matt Bevin, a Republican, issued hundreds of pardons and commutations in his final weeks in office, several of them for people convicted of serious violent crimes. The pardons drew criticism across party lines, and because Bevin was leaving office, voters had no way to answer them at the polls.

State Senator Chris McDaniel, a Republican from Ryland Heights in Kenton County, has filed a version of this amendment in several sessions since. It kept clearing the Senate and stalling in the House. This year it passed both: as Senate Bill 10, it cleared the Senate 36–0 in January, and the House approved it on April 1, with the Senate agreeing to the House's changes that night. Only one senator, Minority Caucus Chair Reggie Thomas, a Lexington Democrat, voted against it at that final step.

Constitutional amendments in Kentucky need three-fifths of both chambers, skip the governor entirely (there's no veto), and then need a simple majority of voters. That last step is this ballot.

The case for

Supporters frame it as accountability, not a ban. A governor keeps full pardon power for most of a four-year term, and loses it only in the stretch when voters can no longer weigh in. In the sponsor's words, a governor who believes in a pardon strongly enough can issue it while they, or their party, still have to face voters. A timing rule is also simple: it doesn't ask anyone to judge which crimes deserve mercy, only when mercy can be granted.

The questions raised

Critics and skeptics raise three points worth weighing.

Clemency can be urgent. Pardons and commutations are how a governor corrects a wrongful conviction or releases someone who is dying. A blackout of about three months could delay a deserving case. During House committee debate, a lawmaker raised exactly this concern; the sponsor answered that other safeguards exist, and that a person could ask the next administration to review their case.

It targets the calendar, not the choice. A governor could still issue the same controversial pardons earlier in the term, just outside the window. Some would rather address which cases qualify, or how pardons are reviewed; one House committee member asked why the bill limits timing instead of categories of crime. The sponsor said a time limit simply guarantees that voters get notice.

It's a permanent change for one episode. Constitutional amendments are hard to undo, and this one responds largely to a single governor's final weeks. Supporters answer that an episode that damaged public trust is exactly what constitutions are meant to prevent from recurring.

None of these settles the question. They're the terms of it.

Voting on it

Amendment 1 appears at the end of every Pendleton County ballot, after all the races, with a Yes box and a No box. Fill in one.

A straight-party mark doesn't cover it; it needs its own mark. And you may leave it blank. Skipping the question doesn't affect your votes in any other race, but a blank isn't counted either way, so the outcome will be decided by those who answer it.

The full ballot text, word for word, is in the text version of Pendleton's ballot, and everything else about November is on the Ace the Midterms hub.

Sources

• Senate Bill 10, 2026 Regular Session, Kentucky General Assembly, including its vote history
• Constitution of Kentucky, Section 77, current and proposed text as printed on the 2026 ballot
• Kentucky Lantern, WKYT, Spectrum News 1 and The Lexington Times, coverage of SB 10, January–April 2026
• Kentucky Senate Majority Caucus, release on final passage, April 2026