Bipartisan plan gives all Kentucky voters mail-in option in November election

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Kentucky's Democratic governor and Republican elections chief unveiled a plan Friday that will allow mail-in voting in the November general election and expanded early voting in person.

The deal struck between Secretary of State Michael Adams and Gov. Andy Beshear lets anyone who wants to request an absentee ballot do so, citing health or age concerns – such as those related to COVID-19.

The agreement also waives, for now, parts of a controversial GOP-backed voter ID bill that passed the legislature earlier this year. Voters who have been unable to get a driver's license or other ID during the pandemic still can vote, according to the deal.

And while Beshear and Adams say they expect there will be fewer polling places on Nov. 3, each county must have one "supercenter" site open on election day. The elected officials, along with the state elections board, must approve counties' plans for fewer in-person voting locations.

Beshear said Adams presented a "very good starting plan" that creates "the most options to vote that we have seen in an election."

Speaking with Beshear in Frankfort, Adams said he and the governor had the same goals: Keeping people safe and ensuring that voters aren't disenfranchised.

"If this were just the Beshear plan or just the Adams plan, half of the public wouldn't accept it," Adams said. "And if there's any part of our system that has got to be seen as fair and neutral and objective, it's the election system."  

Absentee mail-in voting

Using a website that's expected to go online by next Friday, any Kentucky voter can request a ballot that they can fill out and mail to their county clerks. It's a similar process to that used in the June primary.

The ballots can be requested by Oct. 9 and from county clerks after that. They must be postmarked by Nov. 3 and arrive by Nov. 6.

Adams said the plan attempts to make it easier to vote by absentee ballots, including letting voters apply for and mail them in earlier or drop them off in drop boxes. He pledged that there will be more of those boxes than during the primary.

He encouraged voters to return their ballots as soon as possible.

"The sooner that you get it and the sooner that you send it back to us, the sooner that we can process it and the sooner it could be counted," he said. "That way it can be counted in the election night totals and not days later."

Beshear said he is "confident" that the U.S. Postal Service can handle the number of potential ballots sent by mail.

The agency has been under fire in recent days over delays to regular mail delivery and concerns about the removal of some mail-processing machines across the U.S.  

Early voting

People who want to vote in person will be able to cast ballots weeks before the Nov. 3 election at locations in each Kentucky county, according to the plan.

Starting Oct. 13, county clerks must provide a site for early voting during each week day and for at least four hours on Saturday. No reason must be given to vote early.

"I think more people will vote. It's more convenient," Beshear said. "And what we've seen in this last election (the primary) is people really like convenience."

But early voting also makes casting a ballot safer by letting voters choose a time to vote, decreasing the density in those locations, he said. He predicted it also will make election day itself run more smoothly.

Adams said county clerks will decide the early voting locations.

Election day voting

Beshear said he expects he, Adams and the elections board will look for "reasonableness" in the counties' proposals for fewer sites open Nov. 3.

Adams noted that having one "supercenter" site – like the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Jefferson County's only in-person voting site on primary day – also will ensure that voters who mistakenly might have gone to the wrong precinct will have their votes counted.

Adams said his goal is to have 15,000 poll workers for the election. While 1,000 have volunteered this week, that number is a "drop in the bucket," he said.

Voter ID

Senate Bill 2, a voter ID measure that Adams campaigned on and supported, remains in effect after it passed the Republican-controlled legislature. But for the upcoming election, several aspects are being modified.

A voter who doesn't have a photo ID – for instance, because of pandemic-related closures – can fill out a form and vote anyway when casting ballots in person. Adams said some people might face long lines at circuit clerks' office seeking to get an ID.

"If they can't get it, they shouldn't be expected to get it in order to vote," he said. "So we've lifted that."

The bill also required a copy of a photo ID when someone applies for an absentee ballot. But Adams said he and Beshear agreed that Kentuckians requesting absentee ballots online, their driver's license information already in the state system will suffice.

Beshear included the plan's details into an executive order.

"This is a big win for the Commonwealth of Kentucky – more options to vote in this election than ever before," he said, "And, I think, an agreement, a bipartisan agreement about how we can do this safely. We can enfranchise every Kentuckian that can currently vote under law." 

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