LOUISVILLE, Ky (WDRB) - A Louisville Urban League leader called for more early voting, while the state's top election official said Kentuckians would have more in-person polling places in the fall.
Urban League President Sadiqa Reynolds said she hopes Kentucky eventually will allow every voter to vote by mail if they want to.
“Other states have done it, and it works. It shouldn't be hard to allow people to vote," she said.
Meanwhile, Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams said the state's primary was a success, with no voter fraud issue. He expects the same to be the case in November, with an even greater turnout.
“By offering more in-person opportunities and by also requiring our clerks to Xerox their machines and count the ballots they receive as of the close of the polls, we think we will go from about 25% of the vote counted on election night in the primary to maybe 75% counted on election night in November,” Adams said.
Reynolds and Adams participated in a virtual panel discussion through the Frazier History Museum Tuesday. The panel focused on absentee voting, safety during the pandemic and early voting.
The session was called “What is a vote worth,” which is also the name of the museum’s new exhibit, which takes a look at voter suppression and the history of women voters.
Adams hopes to have more polling workers and locations in time for Nov. 3. The primary election, which was moved to June due to the pandemic, had the highest voter turnout since 2008.
“One thing people were frustrated about, myself included, is we didn't have more locations for in-person voting. That wasn't a feature. That was a bug,” Adams said. “We had more poll worker volunteers on March 6th, the day the first COVID-19 case was diagnosed in Kentucky, than we had on March 20th, the deadline to register to be a poll worker.”
About 87% of panel viewers who were surveyed said they would like to see early absentee voting.
People must request absentee ballots by Oct. 9.
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