A record amount of Kentuckians register to vote for General Election

A record amount of Kentuckians registered to vote for the 2018 General Election, according to data from the secretary of state’s office.

More than 3.4 million people registered, slightly more than the 3.3 million who registered for the 2016 election.

Since the Primary Election on May 22, 34,793 Kentuckians registered. The state’s population is about 4.45 million, according to the U.S. Census.

Of the 3.4 million registered voters, 49.6 are Democrats and 41.7 are Republican. It is the first time since at least the World War II era that Democrats do not make up at least 50 percent of registered voters.

“We’ve made it easy to get registered to vote in Kentucky,” Secretary of State Alison Lundergran Grimes said. “At GoVoteKY.com, our one-stop voter portal, folks can register and make changes to their registration online. We’ve seen tens of thousands of Kentuckians getting registered to vote since the Primary Election. That’s only the first step, though. We want all registered Kentuckians to cast a vote in the General Election on Nov. 6.”

More than 25,000 Republicans have registered since the primary, compared to a little more than 3,300 Democrats.

More than 9,100 additional voters registered in the 6th District, which features a hotly contested race between U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and Democratic challenger Amy McGrath. There are 308,526 Democrats registered in the 6th District and 215,980 Republicans.

In Lexington, 52 percent of those who registered are Democrat, while 36 percent are Republican.

Madison, projected to be a swing county in the 6th District election, has a little more than 67,000 voters registered. Among those, 30,884 are Democrats and 29,331 are Republican.

Franklin County is leaning heavily left, as 24,980 voters are registered Democrat compared to 9,564 Republicans.

“This midterm election year in Kentucky is important. On the ballot, Kentuckians will have the opportunity to choose candidates for local offices all the way up to Congress,” Grimes said.

While there is perceived optimism with voter registration up, Stephen Voss, a University of Kentucky political scientist, claims the voter registration rolls are out of date. He said the state is much more aggressive about putting people on the rolls than they are cleaning them up.

Voss said the voter registration data shows almost every eligible citizen is eligible to vote. “But we know that is not true,” he said.

Earlier this year, conservative group Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit claiming Grimes was not properly cleaning Kentucky’s voter rolls. Judicial Watch found 48 Kentucky counties had more registered voters on its rolls than voter-eligible citizens.

According to Bradford Queen, Grimes’ Director of Communications, the State Board of Elections has properly removed nearly half a million voters since 2011 and the Board initiated a voter mailing earlier this year to further ensure accurate records. The mailing was sent to around 600,000 registered voters who have not voted in the past four years nor made any updates or changes to their voter registration in that time.

Oct. 9 was the last day to register to vote in Kentucky.

This story was originally published October 18, 2018 at 10:33 AM.