Registration to vote in Kentucky ends Monday at 4:00 so now county clerks offices across the state are shifting focus to early voting and absentee ballots ahead of the November General Election. Here in Lexington, Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins Jr. announced that Garrett Morgan Elementary in the Hamburg Area and Wellington Elementary near Fayette Mall will be added to the list of polling locations. “Together all of these come to eight locations and just having the additional capacity because you can vote at any one of these is a big help.”
Blevins said that’s still not enough “I really need for people to mostly vote by mail. This design still accommodates about 30 percent of us voting in person but it also means 70% need to vote by mail so this week is a big week we need everyone to push and go ahead and request their ballots.
The added sites became available because the Fayette County School Board voted to continue virtual learning at least until the General Election. Blevins said it would have been catastrophic to have had to shut down the schools for early voting if students had returned to in-class learning and that “wasn’t an option.”Blevins said he had been working with Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Manny Caulk for about six weeks to add more voting locations.
To request an absentee ballot or to find the list of polling locations in your county, log on to http://www.govoteky.com Early voting beings next Tuesday and drop boxes for absentee ballots are now available.