ON THE EVE BEFORE THE 2024 ELECTION DAY; KENTUCKY & WEST VIRGINIA BOTH SET RECORD EARLY VOTING TURNOUTS
More state residents voted early last week than ever before; 792,476, according to Kentucky Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams on X.
That number includes votes cast during three days of early voting and six days of in-person excused absentee voting.
On Election Day Tuesday, Kentucky polling locations will be open from 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. local time. In addition to casting ballots for the next president, Kentucky voters will decide legislative races, two constitutional amendments, local ballot initiatives and more.
Secretary Mike Adams said that 656,277 Kentuckians cast ballots with no-excuse early voting. Most were registered Republican, or 52.6%. Meanwhile, 40.3% were registered Democrats and 7.1% are registered as Independent or other.
According to the Kentucky State Board of Elections, more than 3.5 million voters are eligible to vote in the general election.
On the first day of no-excuse early voting in 2024, 225,696 Kentucky voters participated. “First day of early voting 2020: 57,154 voted,” Secretary Mike Adams said. “First day of early voting 2022: 81,961 voted. So: Wow.”
Early voting was established in Kentucky in 2020 amid health concerns during the coronavirus pandemic. Adams and Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear backed that proposal at the time.
Before early voting began this year, Adams issued a plea to “for the love of God, vote early.” Voters seemingly heeded that advice, as reports of lines at polling locations began almost as soon as the three days of early voting began Thursday.
Former Republican Secretary of State Trey Grayson said on X he served as an elections officer in Boone County on Saturday.
“We had nonstop voting from 7:00 A.M., when we opened, until 30 minutes after the scheduled 3:00 P.M., closing in order to allow everyone in line at 3:00 P.M. to vote,” according to Trey Grayson. “Our voters were friendly and patient. No one was rude. It was a good day.”
For the most part, early voting in Kentucky went smoothly. However, a video that appeared to show a Laurel County voter’s choice switch from former President Donald Trump to Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday circulated on social media and even reached Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump.
In response, Taylor Brown, general counsel for the State Board of Elections, shared a statement from the board that said the voter showed the video to election officials at the polling location after she had corrected her selections and printed her ballot successfully.
“According to statements made by the voter to the County Clerk, the voter was able to ultimately use the touchscreen correctly to highlight the field for Donald Trump and every other one of her preferred candidates,” the statement said.
The ExpressVote machine printed a paper ballot “that recorded all of her preferred selections.” The voter had the opportunity to review the ballot before depositing it in an ES&S DS200 ballot scanner. According to statements she gave to the local county clerk, “she was able to deposit her ballot, containing selections for Donald Trump and her other preferred selections into the DS200 ballot scanner successfully, registering her vote,” the board said.
The voter showed the county clerk the video, the statement said. The clerk attempted to recreate the issue with the touchscreen but he could not when touching within the box to select Donald Trump. He could recreate it when touching in between the fields on the machine. Nevertheless the clerk took the machine used out of circulation and contacted the attorney general’s office. An investigator was sent to review the issue.
The board said it “encourages voters in counties using ExpressVote touchscreens to use their finger or a stylus to firmly make their chosen selections within the middle of the field allocated for that candidate or response.” He added that those believing they encountered an issue should report their concern to local election officials and then the attorney general’s election hotline, 1-800-328-VOTE.
“Once the voter left the polling location, she uploaded the media she had captured to her social media accounts, tagging other accounts belonging to influencers known to push claims of election fraud, stating that her video needed to get ‘out there,’” the statement said.
“In the hours after the initial posting of her video, the voter spent time on social media reposting those accounts that had promoted her original video.”
When asked if legal action could be taken against the voter for spreading false information after knowing her vote was properly recorded, Brown said it “will be up to law enforcement officials to decide.”
Lara Trump, the RNC co-chair, said on X that the GOP legal team “ immediately investigated a voter’s report of a machine malfunction that wouldn’t select President Trump in Kentucky. We called election officials directly. They separated the machine, conducted proper testing, didn’t find any errors, and confirmed that voters could cast their ballots properly.”
Early voting for the November 5 General Election has surpassed the previous record for early voting set in the 2020 General Election.
According to Warner, as of Saturday evening, a total of 332,081 voters have already cast a ballot statewide. Early in-person voters accounted for 310,421 of the ballots cast. 21,660 voters participated by absentee ballot. A total of 4,640 absentee ballots have not yet been returned to the county clerks.
A breakdown of early voting totals to date including voter participation by political party affiliation for each county can be downloaded HERE.
A summary of the breakdown includes:
In-Person Voters = 310,421 (Includes Saturday’s totals)
- 91,978 Democrats
- 143,554 Republicans
- 329 Mountain Party
- 60,196 No Party Affiliation
- 1,547 Libertarian
- 12,817 Other Parties
Absentee Ballot Voters = 21,660 (as of Saturday)*
- 9,494 Democrats
- 7,993 Republicans
- 23 Mountain Party
- 3,273 No Party Affiliation
- 71 Libertarian
- 806 Other Parties
*Absentee ballots requested but NOT returned yet = 4,640
There are 1,657 precincts open on Tuesday throughout the state. Polls are open 6:30 A.M. to 7:30 P.M., and voters in line at the close of polls will be able to vote. No campaigning or wearing campaign materials within 100 feet or inside polling locations.