Ky. should have early voting

Two days after more than a quarter-million Kentuckians turned out to vote on a Saturday, it’s fitting that a House committee moved a bill that would provide 12 days of early voting, including two Saturdays.

House Bill 290 would add Kentucky to the list of 37 states where any qualified voter may cast a ballot in person during a set period before Election Day.

Kentucky already allows in-person absentee voting, in many counties on Saturdays, but only if voters have an excuse for being absent from the polls on Election Day. HB 290 ends the excuse requirement.

Testifying in favor of the change were Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett, a Republican, and Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Grimes, a Democrat, who is pushing for early voting in Kentucky, over the objections of many county clerks, who fear additional costs and hassles.

Tennessee has had early voting since 1994, said, Hargett, who credits the 20 days of early in-person balloting with increasing voter participation. He said early voting also has advantages for those who administer elections: The work is spread out over a longer period and glitches can be identified and fixed early.

Kentucky makes doing your civic duty especially inconvenient. Our polling hours — 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. — are too short. There’s no same-day registration, which 11 state have enacted so voters can register on Election Day.

Kentucky is finally joining the majority of states where voters can register online. Grimes will unveil an online registration system next week.

Just 31 percent of registered voters participated in electing Kentucky’s governor and other statewide officials in November.

Senate Bill 10 would let voters decide whether to move elections for governor and other statewide offices to presidential election years, beginning in 2024. (The governor chosen in 2019 would get a five-year term.) Most states (36) elect their governors in even-numbered years between presidential elections, which might be a better option for Kentucky.

Democracy won’t work unless people vote, which is what lawmakers should remember as they consider election changes. Kentuckians turning out for the Republican presidential caucus showed there is a demand for Saturday voting.

This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 7:57 PM with the headline "Ky. should have early voting."