Republican Allison Ball turns back challenge from Kim Reeder in Kentucky auditor race

Kentucky Treasurer Allison Ball turned back a challenge from Kim Reeder to win a term as state auditor of public accounts.

Ball, a Republican, won by a comfortable margin of about 60 percent to 40 percent for Reeder, according to unofficial returns.

Ball said she felt her track record as a watchdog on taxpayer money as treasurer helped her in the race for auditor, which also has a significant watchdog function.

“People know that’s something I care deeply about,” she said.

Ball won her first statewide race in 2015 to become treasurer and was reelected in 2019. She could not seek a third term as treasurer.

Ball, 42, an attorney who went to law school at the University of Kentucky, argued in the campaign that she was the better candidate by virtue of her experience and record in office.

Before becoming treasurer, Ball worked as an assistant county attorney in her native Floyd County, prosecuting child abuse and other cases, and also worked as a bankruptcy attorney.

Ball pointed to a number of accomplishments as treasurer, including launching a web site to provide greater transparency on state spending; returning record amounts of unclaimed property to Kentucky residents; pushing for approval of a law requiring high school students to complete a financial literacy course to graduate; and creation of a state commission where the programs include improving financial literacy for students, state employees and veterans and expanding access to banking for low-income people.

“I’ve maintained my focus on being that watchdog on taxpayer dollars,” Ball said.

Ball had said her top priority if elected auditor would be to make sure the office carried out its responsibility to fight waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money fairly and consistently.

Tuesday night, she reiterated that she also would make it a priority to pursue audits of the Jefferson County school system, where there was a breakdown in transporting students early in the school year, and of donated relief funds for victims of the 2021 tornadoes in Western Kentucky and 2022 flooding in Eastern Kentucky.

In addition to her own campaign spending, Reeder benefited from $140,000 in spending by the state Democratic Party, according to election-finance records, but came up short by a wide margin.

Current Auditor Mike Harmon could not seek a third term. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor.

The auditor’s office performs hundreds of audits a year. Those include examinations of the financial transactions and performance of state agencies and agencies that receive state money, and spending by county fiscal courts, sheriffs and county clerks.

The office also has the authority to do special examinations of city finances and performance reviews of programs.

The office has about 130 employees and a budget of $22 million, half from the state general fund and half from fees the office bills for doing audits, according to Michael Goins, spokesman for Harmon.

The current salary for the job is $148,109 a year.