The 2020 Primary election is upon us and and perhaps tomorrow’s most contested race locally will be the 96th State Representative GOP Primary between Rita Yates, of Lawrence County and Patrick Flannery of Carter County. The winner will face incumbent Kathy Hinkle who has no opposition on the Democrat side this time around.
Nationally the Presidential Primary, which has pretty much been decided to be Democrat Joe Biden vs. Republican and incumbent Donald Trump, and longtime U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell is expected to easily win the GOP Primary for U.S. Senator with Democrat Amy McGraff favored on the Democrat side. Longtime U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers has some token competition in the Primary and none on the Democrat side.
Also of interest is the vote in the Fallsburg precinct on whether to allow the sale of homemade wine in the precinct.
Keith and Jennifer Moore, owners of Savage farms in Fallsburg will find out after this election if it will be approved. If passed, they will be the first Maple flavored wine producers in Eastern KY.
County Clerk Chris Jobe said the law changed last year allowing voting by precinct on wineries in an effort to boost the industry in the state. The Moores got their application in on January 22, just six days before the deadline on Jan. 28, Jobe said. He said only voters registered in the Fallsburg precinct will be allowed to vote and the winery will not be licensed to sell other alcoholic drinks.Fallsburg residents have one of only four in person voting polls in tomorrow’s Primary.
Another race to keep an eye on is the state senator contest on the Democrat side as Scott Sykes is up against Glenn Martin Hammond for the right to challenge incumbent Phillip Wheeler in November. Wheeler is unopposed on the GOP side.
Four voting places will be provided according to Clerk Chris Jobe. He said most people are voting with the paper ballots available at the clerk’s office or through the mail.
“I wondered how this would go over in Lawrence County but we’ve had over 1,000 already sent in,” Jobe said.
