Ky voters to decide on limiting Gov. pardons
Published 6:00 am Tuesday, October 20, 2026
State Sen. Chris McDaniel.
(JACK DOBBS / Daily News)
A two-month pause on the governor’s pardon power is the subject of a constitutional amendment that will appear on Kentucky voters’ ballots this November.
State Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ryland Heights, who sponsored the bill that put the amendment on the fall ballot, told the Daily News that the amendment was created due to a string of controversial pardons issued in the final days of Gov. Matt Bevin’s term.
“The pardons of the last governor are really what started this, and the egregious nature of them,” McDaniel said. ” … That was the nexus.”
If approved by voters, Amendment 1 would place a 60-day pause on pardons from the governor, with the pause continuing until the next inauguration. Currently, Kentucky’s constitution only removes the power to pardon in the event the governor is impeached.
In other states, pardons must be board-recommended to the governor and in others a board has full authority on issuing pardons. Kentucky’s current law gives the governor sole discretion over the issuing of pardons for any state crime.
McDaniel said this means that governors in the past have been able to “pervert the system of justice.”
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“In every step of the system, every single step has a check and a balance to the power that exists to take someone’s liberty away,” he said. “The only step that has no check, no balance is the governor’s pardon.”
A 60-day pause would provide a check on this power, McDaniel said, allowing the public time to scrutinize pardons before election day.
After losing reelection in 2019, Bevin pardoned or commuted the sentences of hundreds, including convicted rapists, drug offenders, child sex offenders and murderers.
“For a politician, the ultimate check is when you stand in front of the voters,” McDaniel said. “If you stop it 60 days before an election … the governor has to stand in front of the voters and account for the actions of that one person, and I think that that’s critical.”
Amendment 1 must be approved by voters before taking effect. Election day is set this year for Nov. 3.
About Jack Dobbs
Jack covers city government for the Daily News. Originally from Simpson County, he attended Western Kentucky University and graduated in 2022 with a degree in journalism.
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