Post-election day results for the 2026 primary elections are in, and the information currently available suggests a high turnout, at least compared to other years with similar races.
“It was almost double what it was in the 2022 [in Boone County],” said Boone County Clerk Justin Crigler, “which would have been a similar election to this one.”
Available data corroborates Crigler’s estimation. In fact, the region has not seen similar levels of turnout for a primary election since 2020, and that was a year with a presidential election.
“It’s kind of happy-sad, as I call it,” Crigler said. “25% sounds really bad, and we wish more people’d come out, but proportional to other years, it was excellent.”
Clerks and other election officials who spoke with LINK nky attributed the turnout to several big ticket races, namely the race for U.S. House District 4, as well as several high-profile local races, like the Boone and Campbell County judges/executive races and the sheriff’s and county commissioners’ races in Kenton County.
“Even though there’s a lot of what I call election fatigue, I think that a lot of people felt that they were coming out for their candidate,” said Kenton County Clerk Gabe Summe, “and I do believe that the Massie-Gallrein race was a driver.”
Campbell County Election Supervisor Amber Brackett echoed this sentiment, saying the roughly 27% overall turnout was “more than we expected.”
Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams also noted an increase in early voting this year.
On Saturday, 46,955 Kentuckians used early voting – 27,516 Republicans, 18,823 Democrats and 616 Independents. That is a 74% (!) increase from early voting in the last comparable election, the midterm primary in May 2022. — Michael Adams, KY Secretary of State (@KYSecState) May 18, 2026
The region’s Congressional races, especially, made national headlines. The House District 4 race was reportedly the most expensive in the nation’s history with much of the expense taking the form of ads and campaign marketing. Brackett said the marketing urgency extended out to other races, as well.
“In one week, I had 37 different campaign flyers in my mailbox,” Brackett said.
Turnout rates are measured as percentages, so an increase doesn’t necessarily mean more people are voting. In this year’s case, however, there was a higher absolute number of ballots cast statewide—863,950—than in the two preceding primaries.
Over 3.3 million Kentuckians had registered to vote before the election, with 104,266 registered in Boone County, 148,423 registered in Kenton County and 72,654 registered in Campbell County.
Historically speaking, Republicans have tended to turnout at higher rates than Democrats in Northern Kentucky. Not every race this year had a primary in both parties, however the two major Congressional races showed a higher number of votes in the Republican primaries than the Democratic ones, keeping up with past trends.
Many local races, including most municipal, school board and other nonpartisan races, weren’t eligible for primaries, so candidates can continue to file to run for those races until June 2. Voters must register to vote by Oct. 5 to vote in the November general election.
“With the bridge construction, I really want people to start really considering the time to plan how to vote,” Summe said.
Check and update your voter registration here.
View a complete calendar of deadlines and other dates related to this year’s elections here.
This story has been updated.