The number of early voters in Northern Kentucky increased this year.
All three clerks spoke with LINK nky Wednesday morning following the election.
“Numbers were pretty high for early voting as compared to ’22, which were only like 10,000,” said Kenton County Clerk Gabrielle Summe. “So, we had 7,000 more people vote prior to the election.”
Campbell County Clerk Jim Luersen said that early in-person voting in Campbell increased by about 2,400 people compared to the last midterm in 2022.
In Boone County meanwhile “early voting certainly set the record for a midterm, and overall, it was either first or second; it’s close,” said Boone County Clerk Justin Crigler.
Saturday’s early voters include 53,097 Democrats, 48,479 Republicans and 8,451 Others.
— Michael Adams, KY Secretary of State (@KYSecState) November 1, 2026
Turnout was generally higher than it was in the 2022 midterm throughout the NKY region and the state generally, according to election night reporting from the Kentucky Secretary of State’s Office. Campbell County, Which tends to turnout at a higher rate that Boone and Kenton counties, saw the biggest turnout increase at nearly 50%.
“They’re never as big as a presidential, but for a midterm, it was one of our largest ever,” Luersen said.
In spite of talk nationally of a blue wave — Democrats took control of both houses of Congress on Election Day, and one key statehouse race in NKY (House District 65) was flipped in favor of the Democrats — the local electorate is still largely Republican. The Kentucky General Assembly has also kept its Republican majority.
The region’s Congressional races made national headlines, as both Sen. Mitch McConnell and Congressman Thomas Massie will be leaving the chambers next year. Although both Republican candidates, Andy Barr for the Senate and Ed Gallrein for the House, ended up winning statewide, Democrat Congressional candidate Melissa Strange notably managed to pull out wins in Campbell and Kenton counties.
The statehouse races meanwhile were especially a point of focus in Kenton County.
“Just looking at the numbers where there was competition, those really drove up the numbers,” Summe said.
“The judge/executive race was a big one in Boone County,” said Crigler. The Florence and Union city races, both for mayor and the city legislative seats, “drew out a lot,” Crigler added.
The constitutional amendment also seemed to attract a high volume of votes, Summe said, even she “didn’t see a lot of advertising around here other than on Facebook.”
Turnout rates are measured as percentages, so an increase doesn’t necessarily mean more people are voting in an absolute sense. For instance, Boone County had a higher turnout percentage this year than in the 2022 midterm, but fewer voters were registered and fewer votes were actually cast. Kenton County and Campbell County, on the other hand, both saw increases in the number of votes cast.
In terms of motivations, there’s also the issue of how voters view the state of the nation in general. Healthcare, the economy and the Iran war were top issues on the minds of voters nationally ahead of the midterms, according to an October poll by Gallup.
“Sometimes the mood and the climate across the United States drove out some people,” Crigler said.
“I think people wanted to go out and make a statement,” said Luersen, “so they did.”
“Every elected official, every citizen- period – in the United States should be happy the turnout was so high,” said Crigler. “I mean, we always want it to be higher, but people were very engaged.”
