Voting in the Kentucky primary is underway and will continue until 6 p.m. today at the James E. Bruce Convention Center on Lovers Lane. It is the only polling place for Christian County, a change implemented by state officials after the primary election was postponed a month because of the novel coronavirus.
Voters who need transportation to the convention center may get a free ride on one of the Hopkinsville Transit buses until 5 p.m.
Those who requested and received an absentee, mail-in ballot must return it today to have their votes counted. If it is returned in the mail, it must be postmarked no later than June 23.
The mail-in ballots may also be returned in-person using the drive-thru lane at the Christian County Sheriff’s Department on West Seventh Street, which is open until 4 p.m. today, or by using a drop box at the Christian County Courthouse on South Main Street until 6 p.m.
Voters who want to check the status of a mail-in ballot they have already returned can go to Kentucky Board of Elections website.
Statewide, 973,807 mail-in ballots were provided to Kentucky voters, and 503,400 of those had been returned by Monday, Secretary of State Michael Adams told The Courier Journal newspaper.
According to the Christian County Clerk’s Office, approximately 7,100 mail-in ballots were requested by local voters. As of Saturday, 3,522 had been returned.
In addition, in-person voting was allowed by appointment at the courthouse for two weeks prior to today. That option ended Monday.
Voters are casting ballots for U.S. president, one U.S. Senate race, a Court of Appeals seat and several contested Hopkinsville City Council races.
Election results could take several days to determine because of the large number of mail-in ballots.
“Under normal circumstances, the State Board of Elections receives and reports all preliminary election results on election night. However, because we, like other states voting during the pandemic, have accommodated voters by letting them mail ballots on election day, not every vote will be in hand by election night,” Adams said in a news release.
“Moreover, many counties, including our two biggest, have chosen to withhold even partial results until June 30, the extended deadline for all counties to report returns to the Secretary of State,” he said. “Consequently, while our office will provide, in informal but transparent fashion, any county results we receive on election night, neither our office nor the State Board of Elections will be able to offer the usual online election night reporting at elect.ky.gov.”
Local election officials must report complete results to the state by 6 p.m. June 30.
(Jennifer P. Brown is the editor and founder of Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
