Secretary of State: Kentucky voter registration strongest since Fall 2020

The Office of the Secretary of State released the new data Friday

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ/WHAS) – We’re just a week out from Election Day, and Kentuckians are ready to hit the polls as in-person early voting begins later this week.

The Secretary of State’s office announced Friday Kentucky had more than 22,000 new registrations, which means there’s more than 16,000 new voters this election.

Voter registration in September doubled August’s surge, remaining strong until the October 11th deadline.

Secretary of State Michael Adams says these numbers are the strongest since the Fall of 2020, when 2 million Kentuckians voted.

It’s partially due to this election cycle being a decisive one for the Commonwealth, with a lot of elections and two amendments to vote on.

Adams says about 46,000 people have already voted through various voting options, and that slightly more Democrats than Republicans have voted so far.

He anticipates high interest in the election: the elections at the top of the ticket, like the Senate, and the bottom, like the Constitutional Amendments, drive turnout.

However, speaking with our ABC affiliate WHAS, he says it’s too early to know for sure.

“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. You have much higher turnout in a presidential year than a midterm and I think that’s backwards. There are more races on the ballot now than there were in 2020 or will be in 2024,” said Secretary Adams.

In addition to Election Day itself, Adams reminds voters there are three no excuse early voting days, meaning you can vote early for any reason whatsoever. Those begin Thursday.