The online portal to request an absentee ballot for the Nov. 3 election, govoteky.com, is open.
The portal is to be open through Oct. 9.
The Secretary of State has opened the portal early so that registered voters can pre-apply.
Ballots are not yet available but are being printed and will be mailed when they are ready, which should be mid- to late-September.
The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is 11:59 p.m. EST October 9.
There are three ways for Kentucky voters to cast their ballot for this November’s election:
1) *In-person before Election Day
Oct. 13th – Nov. 2nd.
By Executive Order, in-person voting begins October 13, 2020 and shall be available during regular business hours, and at least four hours on the three Saturdays before November 3, 2020. Voters who feel safe voting in person are encouraged to vote before November 3, 2020, to ensure appropriate social distancing can be maintained.
2) In-person on Election Day.
County clerks will announce voting places.
3) By absentee ballot (return by mail or ballot dropbox)
By Executive Order, all Kentuckians who are concerned about contracting or spreading COVID-19 may vote via absentee ballot for the 2020 general election, consistent with the expanded definition of excused absentee provided in the August 14, 2020 recommendations of Secretary of State Michael Adams.
The deadline for registering to vote in the Nov. 3 election is 4 p.m. OCTOBER 5. You can register online here.
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Lawsuits Against Senate Bill 2 Withdrawn
Adams’ Photo ID to Vote Law Will Stand
FRANKFORT, Ky. (August 24, 2020) – Following enactment of Photo ID to Vote in Kentucky – Secretary of State Michael Adams’ central campaign issue and highest policy priority – it was challenged in court by the ACLU, League of Women Voters, Louisville Urban League, Kentucky Conference of NAACP Branches, and other left-leaning organizations in three separate federal and state cases.
As of today, all these challenges have been withdrawn and Senate Bill 2 will go into effect.
“Photo ID is what I ran on, won on, helped write, helped pass, helped pass again over the Governor’s veto, and personally signed into law over the Governor’s veto,” Adams said. “The final step was to successfully defend Photo ID to Vote in court, and with that now achieved, it will be the law of the land.”
As part of Adams’ plan recommended to, and approved by, Governor Andy Beshear, Senate Bill 2 will be fully implemented, with two narrow exceptions. First, Kentucky voters who lack a Photo ID and cannot obtain one due to COVID-19 will be able to vote if they produce an approved non-photo ID and execute a written oath. Second, Kentucky voters who have a Photo ID but, due to COVID-19, cannot produce a photocopy of it along with their written application for an absentee ballot will be exempted from the Photo ID requirement. The absentee ballot request portal at govoteky.com, however, makes these written applications unnecessary, and the portal is linked to Kentucky’s drivers license database for purposes of ID verification.
Adams reminds Kentuckians to bring their Photo IDs when they vote in person October 13 through November 3.
