BLOOMFIELD, Ky. — Leading up to election day, Spectrum News 1 is meeting with voters to hear about the issues they’ll be focused on when they cast a ballot. 

Last summer, Spectrum News 1 met Nathan Lawson on his Spencer County cattle farm to talk about the impact of COVID-19 and higher corn prices on beef producers. 

“The increased cost in corn has really driven the livestock markets down,” he said in June 2021.  

This year, there are new challenges that Lawson said he will keep in mind when he votes in the November election. 

“Obviously, the economy is a huge issue,” he said. “As a farmer, we faced record high input cost in the last year, prices that I’ve not seen in my career as a farmer since 2005 and can’t recall hearing stories of or folks experiencing on the farm level in history.”

This year, fertilizer was too expensive to use to grow hay, which resulted in a lower yield, said Lawson. 

Lawson is a conservative who told Spectrum News 1 that he votes not for the party, but for the person. 

“As we go into the elections this fall and we consider the high cost that we faced on the farm level, one of the things that we’re looking for is candidates that can give us some hope that there’s going to be an effort to try to reduce those costs in a reasonable manner,” he said. 

One question voters will be asked to decide — whether Kentucky’s constitution should be amended to say there’s no protection for abortion.

Lawson plans to vote in favor of Amendment 2.

“I recognize that I’m a man standing here talking about this issue and that that is not necessarily the most popular issue, but I’m also a dad of daughters and a husband of an amazing lady and we are of the same mind that life begins at conception,” said Lawson.   

Kentucky voters will head to the polls on Nov. 8.