During a pandemic, Kentucky facilitated record voter turnout — implementing methods foreign to the largely conservative state like excuse-free absentee voting and three weeks of open polls. Adams, the Commonwealth’s Republican secretary of state, ruffled feathers among some in his party when he used legislatively gifted emergency executive powers to work with Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, on the plan for 2020’s June primary and November General Election. As Adams begins to make plans for the future, what changes, if any, might he suggest to lawmakers for permanent change? “I certainly think that four things are strong in their ability to pass [through the legislature],” he said during a sit-down interview in his capitol office. “Early voting, for at least a few days, I don’t think we need three weeks of voting in every election, but a few days would really help working people get to the polls.” The other three changes under Adams’ consideration are keeping voting centers, or “hubs,” within counties that offer each ballot type regardless of precinct; maintaining the online portal for voters to use for assistance and Adams to use to monitor needs and activity; and the process of curing ballots. Curing involves flagging absentee ballots that are submitted with errors, often in good faith, and contacting the voters-in-question to resolve the issues. With few people voting by mail in Kentucky before 2020, Adams said there was no curing procedure in place. Under the first year of its use, fewer than 1% of the 626,000 absentee ballots submitted statewide had to be discarded.
Full Article: After Election Success, Kentucky Weighs Changing System
