Clerk’s office prepares for in-person voting at Kroger Field

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — The state’s primary election is Tuesday after a coronavirus imposed delay.

Voting, like everything else, is already very different this year.

State and local election officials have urged people to vote by mail, but if you absolutely want to vote in person, you still can. In Fayette County, that’s happening in just one place, Kroger Field.

County Clerk Don Blevins expects a manageable crowd Tuesday due to a record number of absentee ballots received.

“It’s strange. I would prefer to just run around the corner to our local clubhouse and vote,” says Darrin Belcher, a mail in voter.

Voters we spoke with were split on what they thought of mail in ballots.

“Never done an absentee ballot before. I mean under the circumstances it seemed like the right thing to do,” says voter Val Zeps.

“I’m still a little alarmed at dropping off my vote in a box and not knowing where it goes afterwards,” says Belcher.

A drop off box set up outside Kroger Field saw dozens of voters Monday.

The county clerk calls the voter turnout so far historic, with over 92,000 requests for absentee ballots and more than 50,000 already returned.

“Even without voting tomorrow, the turnout percentage is higher than all of the presidential primaries since 2000. So for twenty years we’ve already set the record,” says Blevins.

One voter thinks it would’ve been a high turnout anyway.

“There’s a lot of emotions riding on this election so it doesn’t surprise me one way or the other. It probably would’ve been a fairly high turnout,” says Zeps.

As far as safety concerns go, the clerk’s office says it doesn’t have any.

Barriers have been set up inside the stadium, with ground markings to help keep people six feet apart.

Everyone inside is required to wear a mask.

“I hope that we don’t have crazy level of turnout tomorrow. That would not be a fun day for anybody, voters or otherwise, or the election officers,” says Blevins.

He says the office has tried hard to deter people from voting in-person.
It’s worked for some.

“With the situation, I figured it was better to do it this way as opposed to standing out in a crowd,” says Belcher.

Voting at the stadium begins at 6 a.m.

Ballots must be mailed in before midnight Wednesday to be counted.