Grimes Encourages Kentuckians to Go Vote on
Primary Election Day

JOBE PREDICTS 12-14% FOR LAWRENCE COUNTY

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 20, 2019) – Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes is encouraging eligible Kentuckians to go vote in Commonwealth’s Primary Election tomorrow, May 21. All Kentucky voters will consider candidates for the statewide office of Governor/Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor of Public Accounts, State Treasurer, Attorney General, Commissioner of Agriculture and in some counties an unexpired term for a judicial office.

“My projection Is that the 2019 Primary Election turnout will be consistent with the past constitutional office election years, at 12.5 percent or above. That being said, my hope is the voters of Kentucky prove me wrong and that we don’t have nearly 90 percent of eligible voters sitting on the sidelines,” said Grimes, Kentucky’s Chief Election Official.

Lawrence Co. Clerk Chris Jobe, a past president of the Ky. Clerk’s Association, said the absence of local races will have an effect on turnout. But it may help in other areas.

“This type race is a good time for us to introduce our new identification equipment,” Jobe said. The new ID system consists of swiping your drivers license or signing your name on a small screen. It was used in two precincts last election, Jobe said, and this time six more of Lawrence County’s 18  precincts will use the devices.

If you’ve never heard of any of the candidates for statewide office besides the Governor’s race, we haven’t either. In a normal year there would be tons of emails and phone calls but this one has been silent for the most part. And it’s not just eastern Ky.. As a full member of the Kentucky Press Assn., we get news from across the state every day and there just hasn’t ben much statewide.

Jobe’s office sent the sample ballot today, the day before election day.

But local favorites Mike Hogan and Rocky Adkins did their best to energize their parties during rallies this weekend at Louisa Park. Hogan, long time Lawrence Co. Attorney is running for Lt. Governor on the GOP ticket with Robert Goforth.  Their rally was upbeat, had hot dogs and the inflatables on hand as they kicked off a last weekend tour on several areas of the state saying momentum is building.

Adkins, who is thought of by many to be a native son because of his 30 plus years representing the people of Lawrence Co. in Frankfort, had a rally in Louisa park on Sunday. 

Kentuckians can prepare to vote by visiting GoVoteKY.com, the Commonwealth’s one-stop portal for election resources. Voters can avoid Election Day surprises by verifying their current registration status, polling locations and viewing sample ballots on the online portal.

The polls will be open May 21 from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m., local time. Anyone who is in line at 6 p.m. will still be able to vote. In person absentee voting is available until the close of business today, May 20th. Contact your County Clerk for the hours absentee voting is available.

If you see any suspicious voting-related activity, call the Attorney General’s hotline at 1-800-328-VOTE (8683).

For questions, contact your county clerk or the State Board of Elections at (502) 573-7100.