Early voting opens for 2022 election. Here’s how it’s going in Lexington.
Dozens of people were in line for the start of early voting in Fayette County Thursday, but voters reported short wait times and said the process was easy as they cast their ballots prior to Tuesday’s general election.
Early voting started at 8:30 a.m. at the Lexington Senior Center on Life Lane. At open, the line into the facility extended outside the front doors and along the entire front-right side of the building.
Even though the line was long, it did not take long for people to vote. Most voters were in line for no more than 15 to 20 minutes.
“It was easy,” said Dell Kelly, who estimated she was in line for 10 to 12 minutes. “First of all, I was in line with a friend so the wait was short. It was very straightforward.”
Jeff Kerr estimated he waited in line for 15 minutes and had approximately 60 to 70 people in front of him when he showed up.
“They did a good job,” Kerr said. “It was very quick with no conflict whatsoever.”
By 9 a.m. the line barely extended past the facility’s front doors, leaving people with a maximum wait time of five minutes.
“They had the paper ballots to hold people accountable. Very easy, very well done,” Tim Sorenson said.
Just after 2 p.m. Thursday, County Clerk Don Blevins said the early voting has been going well. He visited the site just after noon and said that new hardware and procedures implemented due to legislative changes are working well.
“It appears that early voting is popular this round,” Blevins said. “We’ve had a steady line since we opened. Worst I’ve heard is a 15 minute wait.”
When early voting was first made available to Kentucky residents in 2020, it was held at Kroger Field. Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins has raised concerns over the difficulty of finding locations in Lexington to adequately host early voting. He previously told the Herald-Leader he thinks the Senior Center will be a sufficient site for early voting this year, and one of the poll workers, Zada Booth, agreed.
“It’s so much better than Kroger Field,” Booth said. “It’s not as large but we have more people it seems like than we did at Kroger Field.”
Blevins did say early voting will likely become more popular as more voters learn of the option, and the senior center may not be sufficient for future elections.
Early voting will continue to be available Friday and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Lexington Senior Center, located at 195 Life Lane.
This story was originally published November 3, 2022 at 10:50 AM.
