Kentucky Limit Governor's Pardon Power and Commutations Near General Election Amendment (2026)
| Kentucky Limit Governor's Pardon Power and Commutations Near General Election Amendment | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic State executive powers and duties |
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| Status Proposed |
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| Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment |
Origin |
The Kentucky Limit Governor's Pardon Power and Commutations Near General Election Amendment may appear on the ballot in Kentucky as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2026.
The amendment would prohibit the governor from issuing a pardon or commuting a sentence 60 days prior to the gubernatorial election, up to the fifth Tuesday succeeding the election.
Text of measure
The full text is available here.
Path to the ballot
Amending the Kentucky Constitution
- See also: Amending the Kentucky Constitution
A 60% vote is required during one legislative session for the Kentucky State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 60 votes in the Kentucky House of Representatives and 23 votes in the Kentucky Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot. The Legislature cannot add more than four constitutional amendments to one election ballot.
Senate Bill 10
The following is the timeline of the constitutional amendment in the state legislature:[1]
| Votes Required to Pass: 23 | |||
| Yes | No | NV | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 36 | 0 | 2 |
| Total % | 94.7 | 0.0 | 5.3 |
| Democratic (D) | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Republican (R) | 31 | 0 | 1 |
View other measures certified for the 2026 ballot across the U.S. and in Kentucky.
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External links
Footnotes
