LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky's midterm elections had historic voter turnout.

Kentucky's Secretary of State Michael Adams said about 50% of registered voters went to the polls for Tuesday's general election, and when final numbers are in, it could be even higher.

"We had a 19% turnout in our main primary," Adams said. "Nineteen percent is pretty depressing. I was not optimistic we'd have a large turnout in November, but we did."

It's too soon to have an exact percentage of voter turnout, but there's about 3.5 million voters registered in Kentucky. If you cut that in half, it means about 1.75 million people went out to the polls. Adams said that's a big number.

Adams said it's close to the record turnout in 2020, when 60% of voters cast ballots when Donald Trump and Joe Biden were running for president, so hitting 50% in a non-presidential year, he said, is "pretty impressive."

In Bullitt County, some waited for hours to vote. 

"Folks are motivated, and I'm glad that they came out express themselves on both sides," Adams said.

Adams said people could have had even longer lines had Kentucky not expanded early voting. Next he wants to lobby lawmakers for more places to go.

"The other thing we learned is we need to do better as a state and having more voting locations," Adams said.

Steve Voss, a University of Kentucky politics professor specializing in voting trends, said he wasn't surprised by the high turnout, but he said the big numbers don't mean more people are civically involved.

"This is not a healthy voter mobilization," Voss said.

In fact, he said more voters head to the polls when they want to vote against something.

"Probably what's happening in Kentucky is what we know is happening nationally, which is people are being driven by their anxieties, their fears, their concern about policies that are harmful to their communities, or to people like them," Voss said.

Adams also said he's already predicting another high turnout for the next election season, when Kentucky voters begin deciding the governor's race.

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