With huge success of early voting, Kentucky needs to make even more reforms | Opinion

It should not take over two hours to vote.

Kentucky saw widespread engagement during early voting this year, the first presidential election when the state has offered three days of early voting and countywide Vote Centers. These two reforms, which the legislature adopted in 2021, add to the convenience and accessibility of voting while also improving election security. More than 790,000 people voted during Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before Election Day, many of them waiting in lines that took two hours or longer. In 2020, 2.1 million voters cast a ballot in the state, so early voting this year represented over 35% of the 2020 total.

But as the long lines this year showed, it’s not enough. Kentucky needs to continue improving its voting rules, in a bipartisan fashion, to expand voting opportunities for all.

Kentucky is an outlier — not in the right way — on early voting, offering the fewest number of early voting days of any states that open the polls before Election Day (Alabama, Mississippi, and New Hampshire do not have any no-excuse early voting). Most states provide more early voting days, with 20 days as the average length of the early voting period. Eighteen states, but not Kentucky, allow for Sunday voting.

In addition, Kentucky is one of only 14 states that still require an excuse to vote by mail. Imagine how much easier it would be to request a ballot through a secure online portal, receive it in the mail, vote at home at your own convenience, and return it through the postal service or at a drop box. States with expanded vote-by-mail policies, with come with sophisticated signature matching and other measures to keep the election secure, have higher turnout. They also usually avoid long lines on Election Day.

Kentucky also has a very restrictive voter registration law, closing the books 29 days before the election. Many first-time voters may not be paying attention a month before Election Day. Kentucky is once again an outlier. Many states have a shorter registration deadline and 23 states offer same-day voter registration, where a voter can register and vote at the same time. Unsurprisingly, those states tend to have higher turnout while still running a smooth and secure election.

These restrictive voting rules are why Kentucky currently ranks 37th on the Election Performance Index, an objective ranking of states on how well they run their elections. Notably, the state has improved on this score. Its ranking in 2016 was 43rd and after the 2020 pandemic reforms the state moved up to 32rd. It moved down to 37th in 2022 after the state reverted to requiring an excuse for mail-in balloting. But it could be a lot higher.

We already know the secret sauce (or secret bourbon?) to make this happen. Kentucky became a national success story during the pandemic for how well it ran the election in a bipartisan fashion. Democrats and Republicans came together to focus on best practices in election administration. They invited good government organizations (and even a law professor!) to offer input. Secretary of State Michael Adams deserves credit for bringing together diverse voices and being a leader in using facts to improve our elections. But much more is possible.

In 2020, about 60 percent of Kentucky voters cast a ballot. Turnout will likely exceed that number in 2024. Perhaps it will be as high as 65 percent. That’s a significant improvement, but it raises an important question: should we really celebrate when 1/3 of the electorate doesn’t show up?

When the dust settles on the 2024 election, the legislature should once again take up election reform. It’s time for Kentucky to again become a national leader on voting rights.

Joshua A. Douglas is a law professor at the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law. He is the author of the new book “The Court v. The Voters: The Troubling Story of How the Supreme Court Has Undermined Voting Rights.” He is also the host of the Democracy Optimist podcast and writes the Democracy Optimist Substack. Find him at www.joshuaadouglas.com.