How to vote in the Kentucky 2020 general election: A step-by-step guide
Kentuckians have more options than ever for voting in this year’s general election.
With one pandemic primary under their belt, election officials came up with a compromise they hope will iron out the kinks of last June while allowing them to accommodate the higher volume of voters expected during a presidential election year.
Here’s what that means for you:
Register to vote
Check if you’re registered to vote at https://vrsws.sos.ky.gov/vic/. If you’re not, register to vote at elect.ky.gov. The voter registration deadline for the general election is October 5.
Request a ballot if voting by mail
The easiest way to get your ballot is to visit www.govoteky.com and follow the instructions at the ballot request portal of the State Board of Elections. The portal will close on October 9.
While everyone is able to vote by mail, you will need to check a box that says you are voting absentee because of concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the portal doesn’t work, you must contact your county clerk directly to request an absentee ballot.
Fayette County is in the process of mailing out absentee ballots.
Fill out your ballot
Make the selections on your ballot. This year, there are elections for President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Kentucky Senate, Kentucky House of Representatives, as well as local elections.
Make sure you sign both the inner and outer envelope and make sure you seal both envelopes. Failure to properly sign or seal the ballot was one of the most common reasons a mail-in ballot did not count in the primary election.
Turn in your ballot
All you have to do is drop it in the mailbox by November 3, though officials hope most people won’t wait until the last minute. So long as it is postmarked by November 3, the ballot will have been turned in on time.
Don’t trust the U.S. postal service to deliver your ballot? Every county will have a secure drop-box where you can submit your ballot by 6 p.m. on November 3.
Secure drop boxes will be located at the Fayette County Clerk’s office on Main Street, the Lexington Senior Center, the Leestown campus of Bluegrass Community and Technical College and the Northside, Tates Creek and Beaumont branches of the Lexington Public Library.
The dropboxes are open at all hours, until 6:00 p.m. on November 3.
If you request an absentee ballot, you have to vote by mail or dropbox and cannot vote in person. If your ballot does not arrive in the mail, you will have to cancel it and swear you did not receive your ballot before being allowed to vote in person.
If you vote in person
Starting October 13th, people can vote in person.
Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins said there will be at least eight polling locations throughout Lexington and voters will be able to vote at any of them.
The sites, which are spread throughout the county, are at Bluegrass Community and Technical College at Leestown, the Lexington Senior Center, the Dunbar Center, Wellington Elementary School, Garrett Morgan Elementary School and the Northside, Tates Creek and Beaumont branches of the Lexington Public Library. People will be able to vote at any of the eight locations.
The polling locations will be open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. On Election Day, the polling locations will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
It has been difficult for Lexington to procure large polling locations similar to Louisville, since the Lexington Convention Center is currently under construction and because there is still uncertainty about the availability of schools. (For schools to be voting centers, they would have to be shut for three weeks so people could vote early in person.)
That could mean people will have to wait in lines at polling places on Election Day, but Blevins is optimistic that with all the voting options it will not be a problem.
Results
Clerks are required to release partial results on Election Day, including results from absentee ballots they received before Nov. 3. That means the wait for results probably will be shorter than during the primary, when candidates had to wait a week for official results.
This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 2:20 PM.
