Kentucky voters across the Commonwealth will cast their ballots in the 2022 Primary Election Tuesday. A central Kentucky political scientist worries the significance of the traditional May vote is not always considered.
Votes will be cast in congressional, state legislative, and local contests. Matthew Howell is an associate professor of government at Eastern Kentucky University. He said too often voters will put more stock in the general election. Howell noted Ballotpedia shows in 2020, 40% of the Kentucky legislative seats were uncontested in November.
“In practice, for almost half of the state’s elected officials, the Primary is really where they were picked,” said Howell.
Fayette County is using paper ballots this election. Howell said this type of voting offers a paper trail and is considered more difficult to forge. The EKU government professor added early voting doesn’t typically result in a significantly larger turnout overall because it doesn’t often involve new or occasional voters.
In fact, he admits expanding the early voting window can create some issues. “If you vote a month advance of the election and then a news story breaks at the very end, a candidate dies, which happens from time to time, you can’t get that vote back once you’ve cast it. So, there’s very much a balance going on here,” said Howell.
Voters in Kentucky communities just experienced three days of no-excuse early voting.