Any word on the Kentucky Primary yet?

[sweetloukillbot]

Lines? Malfunctions? General fuckery?

[qwlauren35]

1. I looked around.

All I saw was that 425,000 people voted absentee so far - 800,000 ballots were mailed out. I think it means that election results will be delayed.

[yellowdogintexas]

6. that would be state wide absentee; not just Jefferson County

I grew up in Kentucky so have a special interest in this situation. I did a lot of research; here is my report:

Other counties did not cut down to one. My very low population home county has two centrally located and well known locations. I do not know if they had early voting like Jefferson did but in Jefferson it was from June 15 - 22.

No count on the early voting in person yet. If they handle vote by mail the way we do here, the count would begin the day the first ballots are received.

Every registered voter in KY was sent a postcard with local voting information.

https://www.wlky.com/article/lyft-offering-free-rides-to-kentucky-voters-on-tuesday/32944387

https://wfpl.org/primary-election-live-blog/

The location is huge; 269,000 square feet, everybody knows where it is (It's adjacent to the Fairgrounds, State basketball tournaments are held there, and NCAA March Madness games are played there)
Free parking for the election period. Free Lyft. Free public transportation.

Lexington has lines, but additional voting stations are being added to reduce the wait. They are using UK's football stadium.

I am relieved to learn all these things. It may turn out KY is the poster child on how to do this, just like they were with the ACA in 2010, and early actions re: COVID

[Wounded Bear]

2. Not sure when polls close, but won't be word before then...nt

[sweetloukillbot]

3. I'm more concerned about the reports of closed polls and potential lines

News seems oddly silent, so maybe the majority were voting by mail and the poll closures aren't as big an issue...

[yellowdogintexas]

8. Part of KY is on Eastern Time, part on Central hours are 6 to 6 local time

I would say 2/3 on Eastern, including Jefferson County all the way over to the WVA border. The Western portion of the state is on Central Time. The dividing line is kind of snaky; it was drawn that way so Louisville and Fort Knox would be on the same time as Cincinnati, Indianapolis and other points east.

Early voting in person in Jefferson County June 15-22
Every registered voter in KY received a postcard with voting options
Unlike Texas, absentee ballots must be postmarked by Election Day; here is is received by Election Day

I don't know their process, but here in Texas, the ballot count on the vote by mail begins when the first ballots are received, so going into Election Day, most of them have already been counted.

This could work in November. (notice I said could) I was wondering why it was so important to do this for a primary; now I know it was a pilot for the general election to see how it worked and to fix what went wrong.

[yellowdogintexas]

4. This is also an OP; I researched and here is my report

Update: I decided to check in on KY and I feel much better than I did yesterday!
https://wfpl.org/primary-election-live-blog/

The good news is that the location chosen is the Ky Exposition center,in a section totalling 259000 square feet. This is a great relief. It is set up well to maintain social distancing. The blog has photos showing the setup.

Link to the brochure of the building : https://kyexpo.org/floor-plans/ Voting is in the South Wing sections A & B. Scroll down for the floor plan of that area.

Early reports indicate steady vote but no lines. Vote by mail ballots have to be postmarked by today, not received by today, and early voting was available from June 15-22. Vote by mail ballots may be dropped in a box at the voting center. (we have a ridiculous rigamarole here for voters who want to drop off their VBM ballot on Election Day.)

Now for the bad news: getting there. It is not centrally located but everybody knows where it is because it is in the middle of the fairgrounds where the State Fair is held. Parking is FREE. Lyft is offering rides, and since the airport is across the Interstate, public transportation could be better than other places.

All in all, it is far better than I thought it was going to be.

Footnote: Fayette County (Lexington) is also a one stop location, in the football stadium at UK, another large facility with abundant parking and everybody knows where it is. Lyft is giving free rides, special buses are running from the transit center to the stadium.

[sweetloukillbot]

7. This is great news

Having went through the "closing polls after expanding vote by mail" in Arizona in 2016, I was worried when I started seeing reports aobut the lone polling place.

[sunonmars]

5. Don't expect any results tonight..kentucky are not touching absentees until tomorrow at earliest.

[yellowdogintexas]

9. thank you for that information. I expect they will change that in November LOL

however, early voting in person and Election Day results will be ready tonight since they are all electronic

[qwlauren35]

10. A website

Has McGrath ahead of Booker about 45 to 35.

I find myself wanting Booker. After what someone wrote about her recently, I have lost my taste for her.

[sweetloukillbot]

11. That is all from red areas

Supposedly Lexington and Louiville are expected to break hard for Booker.

[mvd]

12. I know it is KY, but Booker is a better candidate in all ways IMO

Hope he wins, but most importantly, I want McConnell out. He is the worst.

[qwlauren35]

13. A fundraising letter from Booker

QWLauren,

This morning, I woke up with hope. I woke up inspired. I woke up humbled by this movement. And now, I want to take a moment to say from the bottom of my heart: thank you.

From the hood to the holler — and all across our nation — you showed up. To vote, to donate, to phone bank, to share our bold, progressive message and bring folks into our movement. I am so damn proud of what we've created together, and I know this is just the beginning.

I also wanted to take a moment to answer a question that is on everyone's minds: "When will we find out the results of this race?" And the answer to that question is: we're not sure.

Now that polling sites are closed, officials are counting up all the votes — both Election Day and mail-in absentee ballots. We're expecting that a final count may take a while, at least up to a week. There's a lot of work ahead of us to make sure every vote is properly counted before we know the winner.

But what we do know is that the final result will be very close. Tens of thousands of ballots have yet to be counted, and vote counts from the two biggest counties in Kentucky — Fayette and Jefferson — aren't yet announced. From results we've seen from the polling location, we lead 82-16 in Jefferson County.

The bottom line is our team is optimistic, based on the data we have, that we are going to win this race. But we have to make sure that every vote is counted in order to win.

So now, we're focused on one thing: making sure everyone's votes are counted. We need to send election observers to every county and staff a legal team to make sure we're prepared for anything that happens these next couple of days.

That's why we're launching a goal to raise $500,000 to hire lawyers, train our Election Protection Team, and cover any emergency expenses related to vote counts. Will you chip in $5 and support us in this endeavor?


But QWLauren, no matter what happens next, I want to be clear of one thing: we've already made history. Senate or no Senate, this is just the beginning of this movement.

So, I hope you take a moment to truly appreciate all the hard work we put into this election, and all that we've accomplished together. I hope that no matter where you are, you'll join me in raising a glass, filled with a beverage of your choice, in celebration of us.

With gratitude and thanks,
Charles Booker

[crickets]

14. Fingers crossed for KY - K&R for the post and the discussion.

[Corgigal]

15. Just watched the local

Kentucky news, totals of the vote not until the 30th.

We voted for Booker at this house, we live in a county under Lexington.

[qwlauren35]

16. Just got another letter from Booker.

Booker 43.5%, McGrath 40%. 65,000 votes counted.

This is going to be EXTREMELY close, and possibly challenged by either side.

In his e-mail, Booker is asking for money for a Voter Protection Fund.

[qwlauren35]

17. Today's update - Updated at 1:24pm

71000 votes counted from 13% of the precincts.

Booker up 43.8%
McGrath with 40.9%

McConnell only won his primary by 85%. Republicans are disgruntled.