Election updates: Long lines may mean polls stay open late in some Kentucky counties

Long lines at some Kentucky counties, including in Lexington, may mean that some polling places will stay open past 6 p.m. local time, according to the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office.

“We have about half a dozen counties where we’re seeing long lines. It looks like it may cause some of the locations to not close at 6,” said Michon Lindstrom, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Michael Adams via text.

Those counties include Fayette, Bullitt, Kenton, Hopkins, Lincoln and Oldham, she said.

A report on Twitter also cited long lines in Breathitt County.

Higher-than-expected turnout and lengthy paper ballots could cause wait times at polling places to grow as workers head to vote after work.

Because state law has required counties to switch to paper ballots, some voters were finding the process took more time, especially where ballots are lengthy.

Polls are open across the state from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time. If you are in line by 6 p.m. local time, you will be allowed to vote. Don’t leave the line if you still wish to cast a ballot.

Voter fraud allegations across Kentucky

Meanwhile, nearly 250 calls have come in to Kentucky’s election fraud hot line already despite reports of relatively smooth voting on Election Day.

Most calls to the hot line across the state involved procedural or legal questions but there also were dozens of complaints of electioneering (political activity near polling places), as well as of campaign violations.

Before the polls opened on Nov. 8, the Office of the Attorney General received 93 complaints; as of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, 154 election day complaints had been made.

Kentucky heads to the polls today for the mid-term elections with two constitutional amendments on the ballot as well as statewide and local races.

Kentucky.com will have live updates on any polling problems as well as complaints reported to the state election fraud hot line, 800-328-VOTE.

Voter turnout around Lexington

Some polling places around Lexington such as Veterans Park reported lines of voters waiting at the door when the polls opened at 6 a.m. and voting was busy but smooth at most including Kingswood/Julia R. Ewan, Tates Creek Elementary, Woodland/Ashland and Bracktown. Short wait times were reported at some polls.

At Greater Liberty Baptist Church on Chestnut Street, poll worker Eric D. Smith Sr. said someone was waiting to vote at 5:20 a.m. and there was a line by the time the Ohio-Walnut precinct opened at 6. “It’s been a good turnout and I’m very excited,” Smith said.

By mid-day, the Fayette County Clerk’s office sent an additional ballot scanner to the Crossroads polling station in the Todds Road area where there are four precincts to deal with heavier than expected turnout.

Voter fraud complaints in Lexington

By 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, calls were received on the voter fraud hot line from 45 counties, including Fayette County which had 14 calls: Two on campaign violations, four on electioneering, two procedural questions, three calls on voter assistance and three calls relating to an election official.

Jefferson County, the state’s most populous, had the most voter fraud calls on Tuesday, with 22, including three electioneering, seven procedural questions, two voter assistance, three relating to an election official, one residency, two special or absentee ballot, two campaign violation, one voting machine call and one of disrupting the polls.

Also Tuesday morning, four complaints of election violations were received from Shelby County, two from Woodford County and one from Henry County.

Although vote monitoring has been a hot issue in some states, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office reported only one complaint related to a request for assistance/monitoring in Boyle County by Tuesday afternoon.

Before the polls opened on Nov. 8, the Attorney General’s office had received 93 pre-election day complaints in 42 counties, most involving procedural or legal questions.

Before Tuesday there also were four complaints of vote buying/selling (bribery): One in Letcher County, two in Owsley County and one in Wayne County. Jefferson County had the most calls to the vote fraud hot line before election day with 14, including six electioneering, three procedural questions, one campaign violation, one of convicted felon voting, one legal question, one mailer question and one or a person voting more than once.

In Fayette County, there were two calls before Tuesday: One related to an election official and one on electioneering.

Voter turnout high, some scanning glitches

Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins Jr.’s office said Tuesday that early turnout was higher than expected. But no issues were reported so far at Lexington polling places, which are using electronic voting rolls and paper ballots scanned in for counting. Across the precincts, some voters had to redo their ballots because they did not completely fill in their selections and the scanning machine would not accept their ballot.

Ballots with mistakes were marked “spoiled” and placed in the spoiled ballots slot on the ballot box.

What is on Kentucky ballots

Proposed constitutional amendment one, which is lengthy, would allow the state legislature to call itself into a special session at any time; at the moment, only Kentucky’s governor can call a special session.

Proposed amendment two would add to the Kentucky constitution explicit language to say there is no right to abortion in the state.

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There are no national contests on the ballot but U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green, is facing former state representative Charles Booker, D-Louisville, to represent Kentucky in Washington.

All of Kentucky’s members of the U.S. House of Representatives are up for re-election. In Central Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, faces challenger Geoff Young, who is on the Democratic ticket this time. And another Democratic candidate, Randy Cravens, is mounting a write-in campaign in that unusual race.

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In Lexington, voters will decide if Mayor Linda Gorton wins a second term or if challenger David Kloiber will unseat her. The entire city council also is on the ballot and a new vice mayor will be chosen from the at-large candidates.

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Other competitive local races include county judge/executive, county clerk, sheriff, coroner, some judicial races and a Fayette County school board seat.

Across the state, all 100 seats in the Kentucky House and half of the 38 Kentucky Senate seats are on the ballot although not all incumbents have challengers. And with redistricting many voters have been shifted to different districts.

How many people expected to vote

While most in-person voting takes place today, excused absentee mail-in and no-excuse absentee in-person voting has been taking place for some time. More than 82,000 mail-in ballots were requested for this election, which is significantly higher than most mid-term years, according to the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office.

Based in part on that, Secretary of State Michael Adams has increased his prediction for voter turnout from 40% to north of 45%. That’s more than double the turnout for the May primary, which was about 19%.

Blevins is expecting strong turnout as well. “In 2018, it was 52% (for the mid-term election.) I would say that’s the floor, with the constitutional amendment about abortion potentially driving more to the polls. Other than that, we are all simply guessing,” Blevins said.

Before election day, 8,459 people voted during in-person no-excuse voting in Fayette County, 508 voted by excused absentee ballot in person and 6,507 voted by absentee ballot by mail, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

Across Kentucky, 253,018 voted in-person during no-excuse early voting, 13,212 voted by excused in-person voting, and 62,725 voted by mailed in absentee ballot, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Altogether, 329,580 Kentuckians had cast ballots before the official election day, with the numbers fairly evenly split between those registered as Democrats and Republicans.

How to report problems at the polls

Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office reminded Kentuckians to report any suspected election law violations or irregularities to the Attorney General’s Election Fraud Hotline at 800-328-VOTE.

To vote, you must have registered by Oct. 11. At the polls, you will need a photo ID (state and federal issued IDs, one issued by a college or university or another government ID will qualify.) To vote without a photo ID, you may be able to sign a voter affirmation form.

To find your polling place, go to govote.ky.gov.

The Kentucky Secretary of State’s web site also has sample ballots or you can look at one at the poll before you vote.