Bill changing KY election law passes House, but with divided Republican support
The Kentucky House advanced a bill Thursday that would make sweeping changes to the state’s law election law, including voter citizenship verification, rules for judicial candidates and letting federal officeholders run for multiple offices.
House Bill 534, an omnibus election bill, would permit Kentucky to work with the federal government to identify noncitizens registered to vote, let judicial candidates share their political party affiliation and allow federal officeholders run for reelection and president in 2028, among other provisions.
While it was a Republican-sponsored bill, a significant faction of the 80-member caucus didn’t support the measure. In an unusual vote, 21 Republicans crossed party lines to vote “no” with 19 Democrats. The bill passed the House floor on 53-40 vote, with seven members not voting.
Supporters say the bill is a proactive measure to help protect Kentucky elections., but opponents say it’s unnecessary and could disenfranchise voters.
Rep. DJ Johnson, R-Owensboro, the primary sponsor of HB 534, said while he believes Kentucky has the best election laws in the country, it’s still important for the legislature to take initiative.
“There are those who are always looking for new ways to cheat the system,” Johnson said. “Because of that sad reality, it is our responsibility to remain ever vigilant that being the case.”
The version of HB 534 that passed the House underwent multiple changes. It first passed the House Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee Feb. 19., despite concerns from the Kentucky County Clerks Association. The association at the meeting urged lawmakers to vote against the bill because it could create confusion with significant changes ahead of the May primaries.
HB 534 was on the House orders of the day — meaning it could have received a floor vote — for multiple days before being recommitted to the committee. A new version of the bill passed the committee Thursday morning, which Johnson said addressed some concerns from the association.
The bill originally had an emergency clause, which means it would have taken effect immediately after becoming law; bills without emergency clauses generally go into effect 90 days after the legislative session ends.
The revised bill set the deadline for implementation before the November general election. It also removed the entire section on cast vote records, which would have let county officials publicly upload scanned ballot images without the voter’s identity.
Despite these changes, Johnson said he believed the association still opposes the bill.
Citizenship verification
HB 534 would authorize the State Board of Elections to enter into agreements with the federal government to identify noncitizens voting in Kentucky. According to the bill’s language, voter data that would be sent is the name, date of birth and last four digits of their Social Security number.
If someone is identified as a non-citizen by the federal government, they would not be able to vote until their U.S. citizenship is confirmed.
Rep. Lindsey Burke, D-Lexington, asked how the bill protects someone’s privacy and prevents the federal government from finding out information, like political affiliation. Johnson said the federal government already has access to that information.
“The information is already there,” Johnson said. “They’re just looking for us to help them correlate it and make it a simpler process.”
Burke said she struggles to trust the federal government, even though she trusts Kentucky’s Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams and county clerks, and the bill undermines election security and could harm voters who don’t share the same views as the federal government.
“We have had safe and secure elections here in Kentucky, and there’s no evidence to the contrary,” Burke said. “It‘s truly alarming to me that we are not providing greater protections for our citizens, for our people who live here in Kentucky, our neighbors, our friends, our family.”
Judicial candidate speech and campaigns
While judicial races are and would remain nonpartisan, the bill would allow judicial candidates to publicly disclose their political party affiliation and their political beliefs.
Rep. Erika Hancock, D-Frankfort, said that provision could harm public trust in the courts.
“(It) sends the wrong signal to the public,” Hancock said. “The courtroom should be the one place where justice is not viewed through a partisan lens. If we want to debate making judicial elections partisan, that’s a very serious conversation we should have openly.”
Rep. TJ Roberts, R-Burlington, said federal courts have ruled judicial candidates have free speech, and the bill wouldn’t make the races partisan.
“There is no R, or D, or, I or, L or G next to the name of any candidate for judicial office,” Roberts said. “This section of this act simply allows judicial candidates to do what the First Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that is binding on Kentucky has repeatedly stated they are allowed to do. “
Running for multiple offices
It would allow all eight of Kentucky’s federal officeholders — six House members and two senators — to run for president while also seeking reelection.
During the committee meeting, Johnson did not name Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who has left the door open for a 2028 presidential campaign. But he hinted the state’s junior senator was the reason.
“We have a unique situation where we have an elected official at the federal level who has also garnered national attention for the possibility of running them for the most important office in our country, which is president of the United States,” Johnson said, in part. “And we could say ‘either or’ on that, but at the same time, the voters have spoken that they want this person to be in the position they’re in, I thought the best... option was to allow them to be able to do both.”
The bill’s language says a candidate can appear on the ballot twice if “a candidate for two different federal offices on the same ballot, if one of the offices is decided by the United States Electoral College and the person currently holds an elected federal office.”
The only office decided by the electoral college is president.
Rep. Joshua Watkins, D-Louisville, said he didn’t believe people should be able to run for multiple federal offices that same time. He motioned to suspend the rules to consider a floor amendment that would remove that section, but it failed.
The bill now heads to the Senate.
