LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Tuesday will mark one week from the 2022 midterm elections. Ahead of the election, Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams said voter registration numbers are encouraging.
"For the first two years of my term voter registration really flatlined because of COVID," Adams said. "Fortunately with that really in the rearview mirror we've seen that re-start."
Adams said Kentucky registered 10,000 new voters in August and 20,000 in September. Both Democrats and Republicans had new registrants, with more Republicans.
However, Adams said independents accounted for the highest proportion of new registrants. Among those new independent voters, 45% are age 18-29, a much larger percentage than for other new voters.
"That suggests young people especially are independent minded, they're not joiners, they're not joiners," Adams said. "So there could be some surprises when these young people show up to vote in terms of how they vote."
Adams said 46,000 people have already voted either through mail-in, drop off or in person absentee voting.
Despite typically lower midterm turnout than for presidential elections, Adams said there are big ticket races on this ballot. He described it as a "barbell ballot," with major races like the Senate at the top, and items like the two proposed constitutional amendments at the bottom.
Adams said those races drive turnout, but it won't be the same statewide.
"It could drive turnout in cities or rural areas, we don't really know how that is going to come down. We'll know more in early voting and have a better sense of that," Adams said.
After the 2020 election cycle spurred discourse and misinformation about election fraud, Adams reassured voters Kentucky's election can be both accessible and safe.
Adams said county clerks statewide faced mounting pressure, along with misused open records requests and lawsuits he described as "frivolous."
While morale is higher than a few months ago, Adams said nine clerks in Kentucky stepped down this year. Another dozen or so don't plan to run for re-election.
In terms of security, Adams said many of the changes made after 2020 will be behind the scenes, happening either before or after votes are cast.
He did point out election boards and precincts across Kentucky are made up of both Democrats and Republicans by law.
Adams added Kentucky had no known cases of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
"What we proved to the rest of the country is that you can make it easy to vote and hard to cheat at the same time. Those two things don't work against each other, they actually improve each other and they very importantly reassure both sides of the political spectrum that we want them to vote and their votes are secure," he said.
Adams also pointed to paper ballots as a source of transparency and security, saying a paper trail the best way to ensure accurate recounts if necessary.
Ahead of next Tuesday, Adams said voters should know this year's ballot is lengthy. He encouraged them to look at sample ballots ahead of time and research their choices to save time in the voting booth.
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