The voting process in Kentucky is safer than ever, according to Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams.
“From photo ID to vote, to cleaning up the voter rolls, to banning ballot harvesting, to adopting paper ballots, to expanding our audit process, Kentucky’s elections have never been more secure than they have been during my term of office,” Adams recently told LINK nky.
In order to be transparent, we will walk you from the voting booth to the tabulation of your vote and how LINK nky reports on the vote tally on election night.
Arriving at the polls on voting day
There are four ways to vote in Kentucky: In-person, excused, absentee early voting; in-person, no-excuse, absentee early voting; mail-in absentee ballot; and in-person on Election Day, Nov. 8.
Kenton County Clerk Gabrielle Summe recommends that voters are registered to vote at least 30 days ahead of an election, according to a How to Vote video tutorial on the Kenton County Clerk website.
Voters can check their registration at govoteky.com and can check where they vote at kentoncountykyclerk.com.
If you’re voting in person, polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. Voters who vote in person will need an acceptable form of identification, such as a driver’s license, Real ID, social security card, military ID, or U.S. government ID card.
Other forms of ID are acceptable but must have a picture and a signature.
When a voter shows up to the polls, the poll worker will either enter their information or scan their Real ID into an E-poll book to bring up voter information.
Once the information is confirmed, the voter signs their name on the E-poll book. Voters can choose either a pre-printed ballot or use the Express Vote.
The Express Vote machine is a federally approved voting machine that meets ADA requirements. The device is designed for those with disabilities but can be used by all voters. The machine has voice-guided capabilities with a headset and keypad.
The machine also has zoom features and can remove colors from the screen and adjust for brightness and contrast.
To use the machine, a precinct officer will activate a blank paper ballot that gets inserted into the front of the Express Vote. Users can vote via the touchscreen.
After the final review, voters will print their ballot. Voters are encouraged to check their selection. If they have any issues, a precinct officer can provide another ballot.
Voters can then take their ballot to a scanner. After scanning, an American flag appears on the screen.
For those using pre-printed paper ballots, voters fill in the ovals completely. Clerks recommended that voters read the entire ballot before starting to write.
Once completed, voters place their ballot on the top portion of the scanner, where their vote is tallied.
“If the voted paper ballot is accepted by the scanner at the voting location, it is counted,” said Michon Lindstrom, communications director for Secretary of State Michael Adams.
How votes are counted
Since Kentucky now allows a few days for early voting, county clerks must also plan on counting those votes, but they are not counted ahead of election day.
“The results are not tabulated until Election Day,” said Kenton County Clerk Gabrielle Summe. “So on Saturday night, the four early voting locations (in Kenton County) will basically just close down their machines. They are then locked and then have a seal on them.”
Kenton County has worked with a vendor for 12 years that moves the machines back to the county, where they’re kept in a secure location under 24/7 video surveillance. The machines stay locked until the voting day ends at 6 p.m. on Nov. 8.
At the conclusion of election day, a bipartisan team of one Democrat and one Republican will close down the machines and print the results via a Homeland Security encrypted USB stick.
In Kenton County, a copy of the results is usually put on the doors of the Fiscal chambers. The county also puts the stick in tabulation equipment that’s not connected to the internet. They also send the information to the state board of elections.
“The clerks upload the results to the State Board of Elections ENR website on the night of the election,” Lindstrom said.
Clerks will then certify the results to the Secretary of State by noon Friday after the election via fax and mail the original.
“Because of the Veteran’s Day holiday in 2022, the certification to the Secretary of State will not occur until Monday the 14th,” Lindstrom said.
How LINK nky gets its vote count on election night
LINK nky sends two reporters to each Northern Kentucky county courthouse — Boone, Campbell, and Kenton — where the votes are counted on election night.
Those results will be shared on the LINK nky livestream on its Facebook page and YouTube channel. Meanwhile, the other reporter on-hand will relay the results to LINK headquarters in downtown Covington.
LINK nky is also a member of the Associated Press, which tabulates votes on the state and national level, similar to how we do it in Northern Kentucky.
“Instead of relying on crowd-sourcing or vulnerable technology, our 50-state network of local reporters have first-hand knowledge of their territories and trusted relationships with county clerks and other local officials,” the AP website reads. “Our stringers collect the votes and phone them in to vote entry clerks who key in the data. We also gather results from county, and state websites and electronic data feeds. Votes are subject to an intense series of checks and verifications.”
For the first time, we will share how the AP has called races on election night.
“On election night, race callers in each state are equipped with detailed information from our election research team, including demographics, the number of absentee ballots, and political issues that may affect the outcome of races they must call. Race callers are also assisted by experts in our Washington bureau,” the AP stated.