Nearly three months after restoring voting rights to many Kentuckians convicted of felonies who had completed sentences, Gov. Andy Beshear on Wednesday said the numbers of those restored totaled 152,000.

On Wednesday, Beshear said the state has a new website with a searchable database for people to find out if their voting rights were restored. It can be found at civilrightsrestoration.ky.gov.

“My faith teaches me forgiveness — that we should welcome these Kentuckians back into our communities and allow them to fully participate in our democracy,” Beshear said.

The number eligible is more than the original estimate of 140,000 people given when Beshear first signed the order to restore voting rights.

Kentucky has one of the nation’s highest rates of voter disenfranchisement.

NAACP of Louisville President Raoul Cunningham, who was on hand for the announcement, has said his group will help register the formerly disenfranchised. He said that "the work has just begun."

Beshear's order means that the right to vote or hold public office will be immediately restored to any Kentuckian who was convicted of a nonviolent felony under Kentucky law upon completion of his or her sentence.

Background:Kentucky Senate passes bill allowing voting rights restoration of certain felons

The website lists the crimes for which rights are not automatically restored, including bribery in an election, certain violent offenses, assaults, strangulation and human trafficking. Felony convictions in other states, or in the federal system, are also exempt.

However, those who do not qualify for automatic restoration can still submit an Application for Restoration of Civil Rights. Documents are posted on the website.

The 152,000 is less than half of the state’s estimated 312,000 disenfranchised voters, according to a 2016 report by the Sentencing Project. It found more than 240,000 of those disenfranchised Kentuckians — 78% — have completed their sentences.

Kentucky remained among the last remaining two states that, by practice or law, apply lifetime voting bans for felons unless they individually apply for restoration from the governor. As of 2016, that had left 9% of Kentucky’s population — and more than one in four African Americans — unable to vote.

Supporters of automatic restorations have long pointed to studies showing that ex-felons who vote are less likely to commit new crimes or return to prison.

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Advocates are backing a bill in the legislative session that would put a constitutional amendment to voters to enshrine the change and not leave the policy at the whim of governors.

Follow reporter Chris Kenning on Twitter @chris_kenning