Almost half of the mail-in ballots requested by local voters for the Kentucky primary election had been returned to local election officials by Saturday, the Christian County Clerk’s Office reported in a Facebook post over the weekend.
The clerk’s office mailed out 7,100 ballots, and 3,522 of those had been returned. Monday, June 15, was the deadline to request a mail-in ballot. Also, 756 people have voted early, in-person at the Christian County Courthouse in a process that required an advance appointment.
Tuesday is Kentucky’s primary election, which was delayed a month because of the coronavirus outbreak. All voting on the day of the primary will be done between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. at the county’s single polling place, the James E. Bruce Convention Center on Lovers Lane. Depending on turnout, voters could experience longer waits than they’ve seen here in the past because of social distancing and sanitizing procedures officials will require to help curb the spread of the virus.
Voters will be picking Republican and Democratic nominees for president. In addition, there is a U.S. Senate race, a Court of Appeals seat and local council races on the ballot.
Today is the last day for early voting at the courthouse.
“We are no longer taking appointments for voting at the courthouse,” officials said in a Facebook post. “We will honor those that have already scheduled (appointments). Otherwise, we will just be allowing walk-ins. Last day for in-house voting at the courthouse is June 22, from 8 a.m.-4 p.m.”
Voters who have not returned their mail-in ballots must do so by Tuesday.
“Ballots have to be post marked by June 23 or returned to our office at one of our drop-off boxes by June 23 at 6 p.m.,” the Facebook post notes. “You can drop your ballot off at the courthouse on Main Street or at the drive-thru at the Christian County Sheriff’s Department (on West Seventh Street) during regular office hours.”
Christian County has 53,642 registered voters, according to the Kentucky Secretary of State. Of those, 27,492 are Democrats and 20,491 are Republicans. The remaining 5,659 are Independents or have another affiliation other than the two major parties.
(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.
