NKY voters turn out in droves: ‘Early voting doesn’t favor one side’

Local voters took full advantage of the first time they’ve been allowed to vote early in Kentucky in a General Election, a fact political experts say is encouraging going into Election Day.

More than 320,000 Kentuckians have cast their ballots as early voters, with more than 25,000 of those in Northern Kentucky.

“For this election being the first to have any kind of early voting in the Commonwealth, to see strong numbers is encouraging should be encouraging for the Secretary of State’s office, who’s put forth a lot of effort to try to get turnout up,” said Northern Kentucky University Political Professor and Bellevue City Councilman Ryan Salzman. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was extended absentee, including mail-in and early in-person voting, but that was in crisis mode, Salzman said. 

“It was a much longer early voting period, there were fewer polling places that were being used, and this was all reflective of the context of the pandemic,” Salzman said. 

Secretary of State Michael Adams said he was glad to see Republicans and Democrats turn out for early voting in Kentucky. 

“Early voting doesn’t favor one side. It just helps the voters,” Adams said. “We’re still not done reforming elections, and after this election concludes, I’ll offer ideas for improving future ones.”

The Kentucky General Assembly passed legislation in 2021 that, among other things, provided six days of absentee voting and three days of early voting. So far, 329,850 voters have cast their ballots early or absentee in Kentucky; and 25,787 have done so in Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties. 

Early voters leaned Republican in all three counties in Northern Kentucky. Salzman believes that once the numbers are settled on Tuesday evening — mail-in ballots can be received until 6 p.m. Nov. 8, and the final tally won’t be calculated until polls closed — the numbers will likely correctly reflect the will of the populace. 

“If there’s an advantage for one party over the other, it’ll probably be pretty marginal,” Salzman said. “Typically, what we find with early voting or absentee voting is that it’s not your political party of preference that drives that decision to vote early or to vote absentee. It’s some other life circumstance.”

Here’s a breakdown of the numbers in each Northern Kentucky County by political party, broken up by mail in, excused in-person and no excuse in person.

Excused in person allows voters to contact their clerk and arrange to vote in person on a specially denoted day because they can’t make it to vote for whatever reason, or an excuse. No excuse in person is three extra voting days that allow voters to cast their ballots not on Election Day. They probably have an excuse such as they have to work, but they’re not required to give one. They can just show up and vote, and nothing had to be prearranged.

Remaining mail-in ballots can still be received until 6 p.m. on Nov. 8. The votes will be officially counted once the polls close at that time. These stats are just the registered voters that showed up at the polls for early voting. 

Boone County

Total early voters: 7,224.

Mail-in voting

Ballots sent: 2,934. Ballots Returned: 1,721, or 72.31% of ballots returned. 

Democrats: 623 (36%). Republicans: 921 (54%). Independent/other:187 (11%). 

Excused in-person voting

Total: 749. Democrats: 175 (23%). Republicans: 504 (67%). Independent/other: 70 (9%).

 No excuse in person: 

Total: 4,720. Democrats: 1,615 (34%). Republicans: 2,570 (54%). Independent/other: 535 (11%). 

Campbell County

Total early voters: 6,719

Mail-in voting

Ballots sent: 1,595. Returned: 1,158 or 72.88% of ballots returned.

Democrats: 553 (48%). Republicans: 503 (43%). Independent/other:102 (8%). 

Excused in person

Total: 384. Democrats: 136 (35%). Republicans: 213 (55%). Independent/other: 35 (9%). 

No Excuse in person

Total: 5,158. Democrats: 2,153 (41%). Republicans: 2,466 (48%). Independent/other: 539(10%). 

Kenton County

Total early voters: 11,844. 

Mail in voting

Ballots Sent: 3,054. Returned: 2,318, or 75.9% of ballots returned.

 Democrats: 1,044 (45%). Republicans: 1,043 (45%). Independent/other: 231 (9%).

Excused in person

Total: 277. Democrats: 115 (42%). Republicans: 137 (49%). Independent/other: 25 (9%). 

No excuse in person

Total: 9,227. Democrats: 3,777 (41%). Republicans: 4,438 (48%). Independent/other: 1,012 (11%).