Electioneering issues, alleged vote buying among hundreds of reports called in by KY voters
Electioneering concerns, procedural questions and campaign violations were among the top complaints called into Kentucky election officials regarding Tuesday’s statewide primary contests.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office fielded complaints from Kentucky’s election law violations hotline before the May 17 primaries, on Election Day and after the close of polls.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the office was reporting 148 Election Day complaints, alongside 82 made prior to the election and 41 made after polls closed Tuesday night. The office uses broad categories to publicly report violations and does not give specific details on incidents.
Reports called into the hotline after the close of polls were largely procedural questions, but also reports of issue with voting machines and vote buying/selling.
Overall, Jefferson County led with the number of complaints, with 30 reports, more than half of which were categorized as “procedural questions.”
Twenty-six calls were made regarding issues in Fayette County, among them nine complaints about electioneering, six campaign violations and four procedural questions.
Jessamine County had 25 reports made as of 7 p.m. Tuesday, 15 of which were procedural questions and seven electioneering concerns.
At least 21 of the recorded complaints regarded alleged vote buying or selling, according to the attorney general’s office.
In all, 271 reports came in through the hotline as of 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Cameron has legal authority to investigate the reported violations.
Below is a list, by county, of location-specific reports made to the state’s voter hotline regarding the May 17 primary. Complaints have been grouped together by category and organized by county.
- Anderson County: One campaign violation, one residency, once procedural question
- Ballard County: One procedural questions
- Bath County: Two vote buying/selling, one election official
- Boone County: One campaign violation, two voting machines, one election official, one procedural question
- Bourbon County: Two campaign violations, one procedural question
- Boyd County: One procedural question
- Boyle County: One procedural question
- Bracken County: One electioneering, one procedural question
- Breathitt County: Five vote buying/selling, one electioneering, two procedural questions, one special or absentee ballot, one voting machine
- Bullitt County: One campaign violation, two procedural questions
- Campbell County: One legal question, one procedural question
- Carter County: One legal question
- Christian County: One campaign violation, two procedural questions
- Clark County: Three procedural questions
- Clay County: Two election officials, one electioneering, one procedural questions, two vote buying.selling, one voting machine
- Clinton County: Two special or absentee ballots, two legal questions, one vote buying/selling
- Crittendon County: One legal question
- Cumberland County: One campaign violation, one request for assistance/monitoring, three vote buying/selling
- Fayette County: Two residency, nine electioneering, six campaign violations, four procedural questions, two election officials, two legal questions, one voter assistance
- Floyd County: Three procedural questions, two electioneering, one disrupting polls
- Franklin County: Five procedural questions
- Garrard County: Two campaign violations
- Grant County: One procedural question
- Grayson County: One campaign violation
- Greenup County: One legal question
- Hardin County: One legal question, two procedural questions
- Harlan County: Two procedural questions
- Henry County: One campaign violation
- Hopkins County: One procedural question
- Jackson County: One procedural question
- Jefferson County: 16 procedural questions, one residency, three electioneering, four campaign violations, three election officials, one legal question
- Jessamine County: Seven electioneering, 15 procedural questions, one campaign violation, one disrupting polls, one election official
- Johnson County: One voter assistance
- Kenton County: Two procedural questions
- Knott County: One procedural question
- Knox County: One campaign violation, one procedural question
- Larue County: One procedural question
- Laurel County: One residency, one electioneering
- Lawrence County: One residency
- Letcher County: One procedural, one voter assistance, one voting machine
- Lewis County: One procedural question
- Lyon County: One procedural question
- Madison County: Two electioneering, five procedural questions
- Magoffin County: Three vote buying/selling, one campaign violation, one procedural question, one legal question
- McCracken County: One legal question, one procedural question
- Meade County: Two special or absentee ballots, two campaign violations
- Menifee County: One campaign violation, one electioneering
- Metcalfe County: One procedural question
- Monroe County: Two vote buying/selling
- Nelson County: One procedural question
- Ohio County: Two electioneering
- Oldham County: Two procedural questions
- Owsley County: One convicted felon voting, two campaign violations, two electioneering
- Pike County: Two procedural questions, three voting machines
- Pulaski County: One legal question, two procedural questions
- Russell County: Two procedural questions
- Scott County: Two legal questions, one campaign violation, one residency
- Shelby County: Two electioneering
- Taylor County: Two campaign violations
- Warren County: One legal question, one procedural question
- Wayne County: Three campaign violations, three vote buying/selling
- Whitley County: Three procedural questions
- Wolfe County: One procedural question, one electioneering
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This story was originally published May 18, 2022 at 12:50 PM.