For the eighth time this year, more names were removed from Kentucky’s voter rolls than added, Secretary of State Michael G. Adams announced.
In November, there were 7,349 voters registered while 7,744 were removed (6,606 deceased voters, 615 felony convicts, 443 moved out of state, 64 adjudged to be mentally incompetent, and 27 who voluntarily de-registered).
“Cleaning up our voter rolls not only prevents election fraud, it also saves voters and poll workers time, and makes the lines shorter, on election day,” said Adams.
Democratic registrants make up 45.8 percent of the electorate, with 1,631,845 registered voters. Democratic registration dropped by 5,161, a 0.32 percent decrease.
Republican registrants total 1,586,189, or 44.6 percent of voters. Republicans saw an increase of 3,872 voters, an increase of 0.25 percent.
In addition, 9.53 percent of voters, or 339,100, are listed under other affiliations, which saw an increase of 883 voters, a 0.26 percent increase.
Meanwhile, Adams reminded voters that December 31 is the deadline to update political party affiliation for the May 17 primary election.
“If you are currently a registered voter and want to vote in a political party’s primary election next May, by law you must be registered to vote in that party by this Friday, December 31,” said Adams. “Anyone wishing to update party affiliation, or any other voter information, can visit sos.ky.gov, click on ‘Elections’ and select ‘Register to Vote’.”
In each regular session of the General Assembly since he took office, Adams has asked legislators to extend the party-switch deadline to closer to the primary election date, a news release said.
-Staff report
Photo: Secretary of State Michael G. Adams (provided)