Kentucky is one of 13 states in the Union to mandate closed primaries by law. So, does that mean independents and members of parties besides the Republican and Democratic parties are unable to vote in primaries? Well, it depends…
“It’s especially important for the citizens to understand that it in Kentucky, it is a closed primary because they get really upset when they come in thinking they could vote for somebody, and they can’t,” said Boone County Clerk Justin Crigler, adding that his office could deal with anywhere between 50 and 100 confused voters who come in to vote during primary season only to learn they aren’t allowed.
Crigler said this was especially true for national and state positions —the ones that capture public attention —rather than local positions. This difference serves as a good jumping-off point to discuss the topic since the rules differ depending on the jurisdiction.
Congressional and state-level primary elections are closed [FULL STOP]. That means if you want to vote in those primaries, you must be registered as a member of one of the major parties, and you can only vote on a ballot for that party in the primary. Dec. 31, 2025, is the last day you can change your party affiliation for primary elections in 2026.
You can still change your party affiliation after the date, but you won’t be able to vote for your new party in the primary. You can update your registration by filing out papers at your county clerk’s office or by updating your registration electronically at vrsws.sos.ky.gov/ovrweb. You can view a complete calendar of important dates and deadlines for the 2026 elections, as provided by the Kentucky State Board of Elections, by clicking here.
As far as closed primaries are concerned, independents can kick rocks, unless there are multiple independent candidates running for a single seat. Then independents can cast votes on that primary ticket, but that, admittedly, doesn’t happen very often.
In other words, in a closed primary, only partisans are invited. This serves as a means for the parties to winnow down their candidate slates for the general election, where things open up. Any (properly registered) voter can cast votes in the general election.
What about local elections and school boards? Local entities can decide for themselves if they want to be partisan, and in Northern Kentucky, most do not. Local bodies can still have primaries, but anyone can vote in a nonpartisan primary.
Some examples of races in Northern Kentucky where nonpartisan primaries are possible are the city council races for Covington, Erlanger and Florence. Florence’s mayoral race can also have a primary.
Nonpartisan primaries are triggered when enough candidates run. The rule is this: double + 1. So, double the number of positions available plus one more candidate to determine the number necessary to trigger a nonpartisan primary.
For instance, Kenton County Clerk Gabe Summe said, “Now that Covington has gone to six council people, double that would be 12, plus one. So if 13 people file to run, it triggers a primary.”
In nonpartisan primaries like this, people cast votes to narrow the pool of candidates to twice the number of positions. So, in the Covington example, if there are 15 candidates for six positions, the primary will eliminate three candidates. That way, there are only two candidates for each seat.
Most of the smaller cities in the region choose to forego primaries altogether, regardless of the number of candidates. Check with your local city clerk to find out how it works in your city.
Note: It’s possible for voters to cast a straight ticket ballot, meaning that you can automatically vote for a particular party in all of the partisan races in the general without checking off individual boxes. Straight-ticket voting, however, will not check off nonpartisan races, so you’ll still need to cast individual votes for your local, mostly nonpartisan races.
Given all of the races – national, state and local – on the docket for 2026, Summe said, “this is going to be a really heavy ballot.”