LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky's secretary of state has predicted a massive turnout on Election Day based on the 130,000 absentee ballots requested by Kentuckians ahead of last week's deadline.
Secretary of State Michael Adams also posted on social media that 16,441 Kentuckians participated in in-person excused absentee voting. Of those, 9,739 were Republicans, 5,690 were Democrats and the rest were independent, saying it's a 114% increase from 2022.
In a live interview on WHAS11 News, Adams stressed the importance of voting early.
"But we need space for people to vote if everyone shows up the last day because they procrastinate," he said while predicting if that did happen, there would be "long lines and some hot tempers on Election Day."
While the presidential election is a big draw to the polls, Adams said other drivers for voters are Amendment 2 and medical marijuana.
"I think there are regions of the state where Amendment 2 is very popular or unpopular that will drive some turnout," he said. "We also have local elections on medical marijuana that will drive some turnout."
As far as safety is concerned, Adams feels confident in the state.
"We have not seen any threats made to voting locations or to voters or to poll workers and even the threats to me have really died down as well," he said.
As a Republican, Adams faced party opposition and threats from election deniers.
As far as safety is concerned, he said they have talked with federal, state and local law enforcement to make sure voters are safe.
He also reassured the public that our ballots are safe too.
"I encourage voters to use a drop box if they're voting by absentee ballot because the county clerk checks them and picks them up every day versus them being mailed to some other state in many cases, then returned back," Adams said. "We get it quicker. We can count your vote. But number two, they're more secure than mailboxes."
And while only 2% to 4% of Kentucky votes by absentee ballot, he said they have "reasonable protections for the absentee vote as well."
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