Kentucky’s primary election is set for May 21, and we’re breaking down everything you need to know to make your vote count whether you vote early or on Election Day.
We are one week from the deadline to register for the primary, so if you haven’t yet, make sure you register before Monday, April 22. Click here to register.
Of the 330,678 registered voters in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties, most will be taking to the polls on Election Day; however, there are a portion that vote by mail or early.
Voting can be complicated; from making sure you’re registered to figuring out your voting precinct and even figuring out how to fill out your ballot, there’s a lot to know when trying to exercise your civic duty.
For an overview of the deadlines for all registrations and requests to vote in the May 21 primary, click below.
2024 Kentucky Primary Election Timeline
Read on to learn all about how voting works in NKY.
How does one go about voting absentee?
The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is May 7 and must be returned by May 21. To receive an absentee ballot, one must prove that they fall within the categories for excused absences.
Voters can fill out an absentee ballot request form online or at their county clerk’s office. The voter will need to provide their reason for the excuse, identification, and their address. From there, the county clerk will send the voter a ballot in the mail.
“We put them in the mail immediately. When we put them in the mail, they are scanned, and what that means is there’s a barcode on the mailing going out so that the voter can now track what was put in the mail,” said Kenton County Clerk Gabrielle Summe.
After the ballot is sent in the mail, the voter can follow its process online and can verify when it is scanned in at the clerk’s office, although Summe said this does not mean it has been counted yet. Then, starting 14 days before the election, early voting can begin to be counted.
How does excused early voting work?
Mail-in is not the only way to vote absentee. Next on the timeline is in-person excused absentee voting, which will be conducted May 8, 9, 10, 13, 14 and 15.
This form of voting happens at the county clerk’s office, and voters have to provide an explanation as to why they cannot vote on Election Day or during the in-person no-excuse early voting. Citizens voting during this time must also sign off, promising that they will not vote on Election Day as well, which would be voter fraud, “you basically are signing a legal affidavit that says this is why I have to vote now,” said Summe.
How does un-excused early voting work?
May 16 through 18 is in-person no-excuse early voting, in which any registered voter can participate.
The deadline to register to vote for the primary election in May is Monday, April 22, at 4 p.m.
Who can vote absentee?
There are many reasons why a resident would have to vote absentee. The excuses approved by the state of Kentucky include:
- Those covered voter under the Kentucky Uniform Military and Overseas Act
- Students who temporarily reside outside their county of residence.
- Those incarcerated in jail but have not been convicted of the crime for which they have been charged.
- Those who have changed their place of residence to a different state during a period in which my new state’s voter registration books are closed.
- Those temporarily residing outside of Kentucky but still eligible to vote in the state
- Those who will be absent from their county of residence on Election Day and on all of the days that in-person absentee voting is conducted.
- Those who are a participant in the Secretary of State’s crime victim address confidentiality program.
- Those who are not able to appear at the polls on Election Day or on the days in-person absentee voting is conducted on account of age, disability, or illness and I have not been declared mentally disabled by a court of competent jurisdiction.
If I vote in person, what do I need to know?
Whether you are showing up early or voting on Election Day, you will need to prove who you are. According to the Kentucky State Board of Elections, you must provide “proof of identification.”
The board says that this means a document that was issued by:
(a) The United States or the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and the document contains:
1. The name of the individual to whom the document was issued;
2. A photograph of the individual to whom the document was issued;
(b) The United States Department of Defense, a branch of the uniformed services, the Merchant Marine, or the Kentucky National Guard, and the document contains:
1. The name of the individual to whom the document was issued;
2. A photograph of the individual to whom the document was issued;
(c) A public or private college, university, or postgraduate technical or professional school located within the United States, and the document contains:
1. The name of the individual to whom the document was issued;
2. A photograph of the individual to whom the document was issued; or,
(d) Any city government, county government, urban-county government, charter county government, consolidated local government, or unified local government, which is located within this state, and the document contains:
1. The name of the individual to whom the document was issued;
2. A photograph of the individual to whom the document was issued.
Find out your polling location at ky.gov.
What’s going to be on my ballot?
It’s important to go into an election prepared and the best way to do to is to ensure you’re informed about all the races ahead of time.
Find sample ballots for all three NKY counties here:
Now that you know what’s going to be on your ballot, check out LINK’s coverage from our Frankfort Correspondent Rebecca Hanchett, as well as all our other local political reporting here.
How do I know my vote is secure?
There are plenty of people questioning election integrity, and many of the arguments revolve around mail-in voting.
Election authorities record each mail-in ballot to prevent multiple requests from the same voter. These ballots are further tracked upon their return, cross-referenced with voter registration records, and, in numerous instances, scrutinized for voter signatures to verify that the individual assigned to the ballot is indeed the one who cast it.
In Kenton County, a board of two Republicans and two Democrats is created to review the mail-in ballots. They start by reviewing the outside of the envelope and “using the statutory criteria, they decided that valid then meets all the other criteria for it to be scanned,” said Summe.
Once they have cross-referenced the ballots with the requested ballots to ensure there are no duplicates, they remove the exterior envelope and pass it along in a blank envelope with no identifying information.
Great care is taken to make certain that the signatures match, “The signature on the outside of the envelope must match the signature that’s on their voter registration card,” said Summe.
If it doesn’t match, Summe says the clerk’s office sends the voter a letter asking them to sign an affidavit verifying the signature on the ballot is actually their signature.
This arduous process is to ensure that the votes are counted properly and with anonymity.
Nevertheless, there are still those wary of the process. Following the 2020 presidential election, former President Donald Trump and his supporters alleged that thousands of votes were fraudulently submitted in the names of deceased individuals, even identifying specific deceased individuals whose votes were purportedly included. However, as reported by the Associated Press, investigations revealed that these assertions, which gained traction in several states, including Arizona, Virginia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia, were unfounded.
From what Summe sees locally, a lot of the confusion comes from nursing homes. She says confusion can happen when nursing home staff are trying to be helpful and assist the residents register and vote. Sometimes, they will bring them in to vote, but other times, due to physical limitations, they will need to vote via mail.
What can happen, Summe said, is staff or family will think they’re helping by filling out the ballot for their family member, but this is technically voter fraud, “that’s why anything you do in elections is an illegal affidavit that if there is any fraud can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
While there are times when mistakes could be made or fraud is attempted, Summe said she does not think it is common, and if it happens, it is caught by the rigorous system working to ensure safe and accurate elections.
“So for me, do I think it is really prevalent? No, I think what happens a lot of times is people don’t realize how much scrutiny really things go through,” said Summe.
While absentee voting causes a lot of concern, so does in person voting, and to combat those concerns, Kenton county officials decided to showcase their voting machines to show voters how secure they are.
In a demonstration in Feburary, Summe gave a complete breakdown of the voting machines, their modems, how they store the voting information, how they are counted and how they are unable to connect to wifi.
Paper ballots are a required evidence trail in Kentucky Law 118.025, which states that, “Voting in all primaries and elections shall be by secret paper ballot.”
Wifi connection through voting machines is where concern for possible fraudulent voting arises in the public, but, Summe said, Kenton County’s voting machines do not have the capabilities to connect to wifi.
Jeannine Bell Smith, a member of the Crescent Springs Council, was in attendance at the demonstration.
“Voting has improved over the years. I don’t have to think about a choice being made for my ballot,” Smith said regarding previous election ballots where the fill-in-the-bubble method was the standard ballot method. This ballot method has been controversial for being misread when counted due to the small font and ballot indicators.
