FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Secretary of State and Board of Elections are monitoring the push to Election Day in Frankfort, answering concerns some voters are having during this new process.
Officials have received complaints of absentee ballots not being processed by their county clerks, one person saying they dropped off their ballot at an in-person site and had not seen it processed days later.
Secretary of State Michael Adams said counties across the Commonwealth are scanning them in as quickly as possible, but with so many coming in, they need to ask for voters' patience.
"We've got a half a million plus of these that are coming in...many thousands and thousands a day," Adams said. "It could be that they've received it, but they haven't logged it, yet so we do ask people to be patient."
Nore Ghibaudy with the Jefferson County Clerk's Office said workers collect ballots at the end of the day and bring them to be processed, scanning them.
It's important to note that those ballots are placed in different bins. They may get shuffled around in the process, so just because two were dropped off together doesn't mean they'll stay together.
One person said they mailed their ballot on Oct. 4, but the clerk's office still had not received it. When they called the Board of Elections, they were told that the only recourse was a hearing.
Officials said that is indeed the case, and that it has to take place on Election Day so there's still a chance someone can vote in person.
"If an individual has received an absentee ballot and sent it back and there's no record of that voting having been cast, that individual can appeal to the county board of elections and be given a hearing and an opportunity to vote in person," Adams said.
While more than 130,000 of the 174,000 requested in Jefferson County have arrived back at the clerk's office, it's unclear how many are yet to arrive at homes.
Now marks the time anyone who has requested but not received an absentee ballot can vote in person. Anyone voting who has an absentee on file will have to fill out paperwork to cancel the absentee ballot.
"What would happen is that when the ballot came in that ballot would be automatically rejected because that person has already voted," Ghibaudy said.
Officials said those issues are rare, but they're the reason they stress getting absentee ballots into drop boxes as soon as possible.
As of Wednesday, Adams reported that 520,625 absentee ballots have been scanned in at clerks offices across the Commonwealth.
Adams said he feels that the work to get the ballots processed will allow for Kentuckians to know the anticipated winner of most major races on election night and give a clue as to how even the smaller races will shape up.
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