Kentucky voters will get free postage for their absentee ballots in June primary election
Kentuckians who decide to use absentee voting by mail for the June 23 primary election will not have to pay for postage, and county clerks will be able to hire temporary help to manage the unsual election during the coronavirus pandemic.
The State Board of Elections unanimously adopted the free postage and additional help for county clerks in a set of emergency regulations at a special meeting conducted online Friday morning.
Gov. Andy Beshear, after working out a plan with Secretary of State Michael Adams to conduct the election, signed an executive order last week that calls on all voters to use absentee voting by mail if they can.
State lawmakers last month made sure that Adams, a Republican, and Beshear, a Democrat, both have a say in how the election will be conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beshear had vetoed language that required he and Adams to agree on a plan, but the Republican-led legislature overrode his veto.
Beshear’s order said the State Board of Elections will come up with emergency regulations to provide for expanded absentee voting by mail.
The board, with former U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler as its chair, approved 19 pages of regulations Friday.
“These regulations represent a bipartisan effort to guarantee that citizens of the Commonwealth are able to participate in a fair election while maintaining the social-distancing standards we need in order to slow the spread of the virus and protect the most vulnerable in our state, including poll workers and other voters,” said Chandler.
Highlights included approving $1 million to $1.2 million to pay for returned postage for voters to return their absentee ballots to the county clerks and $1 million to $1.1 million for county clerks to hire staffers for four weeks to help with the election.
Chandler said the money will come from the federal CARES Act plus matching funds from the state.
The regulation said a clerk may hire four temporary staffers but Chandler said some clerks may need more.
“The main point is that we want to do everything we can possibly do to help clerks with this difficult task,” he said.
The board also authorized drop boxes in locations in court houses designated by the clerks to drop off absentee ballots if someone didn’t want to use the free mail.
And each clerk must have a polling place in the county for people who want to vote in person. Such voters may make an appointment with the clerk for the time to vote to avoid crowds in the courthouses.
In-person voting by appointment will be available from June 8 through 6 p.m. on Election Day, June 23, however, voters are strongly urged to apply for and vote by absentee mail ballot.
Secretary of State Adams told the board that postcards will be sent out to all registered Kentucky voters in the next few weeks to give them information about the new election set-up.
He said the postcard will inform the voter of a secure online portal that will allow voters to request an absentee ballot be mailed to them.
Beshear and Adams already had agreed to push back the primary election, in which party nominees for November’s general election are chosen, from May 19 to June 23.
The primary election ballot includes races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, the Kentucky General Assembly and various judicial positions.
Jared Dearing, executive director of the elections board, stressed that the emergency regulations were temporary and only for the June 23 election.
To take effect, they must be ratified by Beshear and Adams through executive orders, he said.
Beshear signed an executive order later Friday to put the regulations into effect.
Chandler said “a great deal of work went into the regulations” and they had the support of Adams, Beshear and county clerks.
Adams, who has been criticized by some Republicans for going along with voting by mail, said all the emergency regulations were “done in a bipartisan fashion.”
“We are trying to ensure we protect people,” he said.
Adams also asked voters to make sure their voter registration information is correct by checking online at GoVoteKY.com to get the postcards and absentee ballots for the June election.
The elections board is scheduled to meet again May 19.
This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 11:36 AM.
