Christian County Clerk Mike Kem had hoped that 25,000 local voters would cast a ballot in this year’s general election, but the combined tally of absentee, early in-person and Election Day ballots was roughly 1,000 votes short of that prediction.
The local turnout was 23,978, which is 42.8% of the 56,018 voters on the county roll, according to the county clerk’s tally sheet.
The total number of people voting in the 2020 general election was a local record but the percentage fell short of Christian County’s turnout in other presidential elections, Deputy County Clerk Melinda Humphries, who oversees elections, said.
By comparison, the county’s voter turnout in the last three presidential elections was:
- 2016 — 22,413 of 50,265 registered voters for 44.6%
- 2012 — 21,984 of 43,838 registered voters for 50.1%
- 2008 — 22,920 of 39,061 registered voters for 58.7%
Republican President Donald Trump received 15,080 votes with 63.2% of Christian County ballots in the presidential election, while his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, had 8,296 with 34.8%.
Kem told Hoptown Chronicle that a large share of Biden’s votes came from people casting absentee ballots, which reflected a nationwide trend. He said 62% of the county’s absentee voters chose Biden.
However, Christian County has more voters listed on the official roll than actually live here, Kem has said. There are a large number of Fort Campbell soldiers and relatives who registered as local voters but continued to vote from their hometowns or have moved away, Kem and Humphries believe.
U.S. Census data provides one clear indication that the number of voters in Christian County is skewed.
The county’s population is 70,461, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 count, and of those 27.1% are younger than 18. That means 19,000 residents have not reached the legal voting age, leaving approximately 51,000 residents who are of voting age, according to the census.
Humphries said Kentucky law does not allow local election officials to proactively go into the voter rolls and attempt to determine who is no longer living in the county. That requires state action, she said.
(Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect totals based on all of the absentee ballots that arrived at the Christian County Clerk’s Office by the Friday, Nov. 6, deadline for those to be counted.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
