Early voting for all registered voters will begin this week as a surge of Kentuckians participated in excused in-person absentee voting last week.
Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams said in a post on X that 16,441 voters cast ballots last week during the first three days of in-person absentee voting, which is a 114% increase over the same period in 2022. Adams said those voters included 9,739 Republicans, 5,690 Democrats and 1,012 voters registered as “other.”
Three more days of excused in-person absentee voting continue through Wednesday.
No-excuse early voting begins Thursday, Oct. 31, and lasts through Saturday, Nov. 2. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
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Voters will cast their ballots in a number of races, including elections for president, U.S. representatives, state legislators and many local offices. Kentucky voters will also consider two constitutional amendments, one that would bar those who are not U.S. citizens from voting in Kentucky elections and another that would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools.
Early voting polling locations and hours vary by county. To find local information, visit the State Board of Elections’ website. Also listed are Election Day polling locations and drop box locations for returning mail absentee ballots.
The deadline to request absentee ballots was Oct. 22. At the time, Adams said on X that 130,695 Kentuckians had requested a ballot.
“As absentee ballots generally make up 2%-4% of all ballots cast, this portends a massive overall turnout,” Adams said. “For the love of God, vote early.”
During the 2020 presidential election, 658,000 voters requested an absentee ballot. That was amid the coronavirus pandemic and emergency regulations that expanded eligibility to vote by mail in Kentucky.
As of Saturday, 56.49% of requested mail-in ballots had been returned to local county clerks’ offices, according to State Board of Elections data.
In September, 24,536 Kentuckians registered to vote. The deadline to register for the general election was Oct. 7.
Kentucky has 1,649,657 registered Republicans, or 47% of the total number of registered voters. Democrats make up 43% of registered voters with 1,507,936 voters.
For more voting information, visit govote.ky.gov.
McKenna Horsley covers state politics for the Kentucky Lantern. She previously worked for newspapers in Huntington, West Virginia, and Frankfort, Kentucky. She is from northeastern Kentucky.
