Roughly 300 voters turned out Tuesday by lunchtime to cast ballots on the first day of early, in-person voting in Kentucky, said Christian County Clerk Mike Kem.
Eight poll workers and one supervisor from the clerk’s office were assigned to the Christian County Sheriff’s Department, which is the lone early voting site this week. It will be open for voting 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today through Saturday.
There are four machines to scan paper ballots at the sheriff’s department, and the process was working well on the first day, said Kem.
Because of coronavirus safety measures, temperatures are taken when voters arrive, and they must wear a mask to enter the polling place.
Voters also need photo identification, which is required under Senate Bill 2 adopted by the General Assembly in April and became law after the June primary. Kem said his office recommends that voters bring a driver’s license because it can be scanned and gives poll workers quicker access to that particular voter’s ballot.
“That will speed things up,” Kem said.
The types of identification accepted are outlined by the Kentucky Secretary of State’s Office.
- SUBSCRIBE: Sign up for Hoptown Chronicle’s newsletters
Initially, Kem’s office had planned to also offer early voting at the courthouse this week; however, all three employees who work full-time on elections recently tested positive for COVID-19 and the county had to scale back to just one site this week. Kem said two of the employees have relatively mild symptoms and one is experiencing a more serious illness — but, he added, all three of the employees have been able to work remotely from home.
Several weeks ago, the clerk’s office moved the election division to a separate area on the second floor of the courthouse. That left all other divisions, including deeds, marriage licenses, and vehicle and boat licensing and renewals, on the first floor. One employee from the first floor, who has experience working at polls, was pulled to act as the supervisor at the sheriff’s department site this week. She tested negative for COVID-19 before her assignment to the poll, said Kem.
Beginning Oct. 19, early voting will be conducted 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday at the sheriff’s department and the Christian County Senior Citizens Center. The same schedule will be in place the last week of October and on Monday, Nov. 2.
The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Christian County will have seven polling places open on Election Day.
Approximately 5,000 voters requested absentee, mail-in ballots. In the June primary, close to 6,000 people used mail-in ballots.
Kem, who took office in 1999, said he expects about 25,000 Christian County voters to cast a ballot in this election. Interest is high with the presidential race on the ballot; however, Christian County’s true turnout can be skewed by the fact that roughly 10,000 voters listed on the rolls locally are connected to Fort Campbell and many no longer live in the area, he said.
According to the Secretary of State’s website, there were 56,018 registered voters in Christian County as of Friday.
(This story has been updated to clarify that three county employees who contracted COVID-19 are working remotely from their homes, and to correct County Clerk Mike Kem’s prediction of voter turnout.)
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.
