The primary election is May 21, and there are several candidates seeking their party's nomination. The Pure Politics team has contacted each candidate with a primary opponent to find out who they are, and what they stand for. 

Geoff Sebesta is Democrat running for Secretary of State. 

Sebesta is a comic book artist from Lexington, who grew up in Winchester. Sebesta returned to Kentucky from Texas in 2017 and says he can't believe how great Kentucky has become. 

"I left when things were going really bad here, Kentucky had a really rough period for a while there," he said. "Then I came back, and everything is great, the economy is running, and everyone is in a good mood, and not nearly as many people are dying from addiction as there was." 

Sebesta is part of a group of anti-war liberals in the Lexington who he says are passionate about reforming the Democratic party. Sebesta says his group is against two things, war and corruption, but they will compromise on everything else. After the Sixth Congressional Race last year, his group decided to get involved in politics and run for statewide office. That's when he decided to run for Secretary of State. 

"I originally got into this for voting and vote security and things like that, trying to make sure elections aren't stolen," he said. "My opinion on that has really changed over the last couple of years. That's where I entered it, as I gradually researched the position more and more I realized issues about transparency and reporting are actually far more important. And what the Secretary of State really does is communicate. Their job is to communicate, they communicate between the governor and legislature, and the people." 

Sebesta says if elected he will refuse all privileged and secret communications. 

"I do not believe the government has the right to keep secrets from the people," he said. "If someone gives me something that's supposed to be secret and tells me that I can't, for whatever national security reason, I can't reveal it. I'm going to walk over to computer and type I can't reveal this."

He says his office will be all about transparency, and reporting on what the governor does. 

"I will make sure there are no secret deals, no more hidden donors, no more nonsense about telling people who the other shareholders are in a company that we have been forced to buy into by our own government," he said. 

As far as keeping elections safe, Sebesta says using paper ballots is a way to ensure safety. 

"I believe paper ballots are essential. Not only because they make recounting easier, but because they symbolize to people safety and security. They symbolize to people that their vote has been counted and been saved," he said. 

Sebesta also says he supports optical scanning of paper ballots to help people feel their votes are secure. Additionally, if an election poll is off by a certain degree from the real election results, Sebesta believes the best option is to just have the vote again. 

Sebesta says he's the best candidate for the job because he would hire all the candidates to work under his office. 

"They are all great people, and they are all offering something different, and in my specific case, it's not that I'm best, or better at any particular thing," he said. "These people all have their strenghts. My opponents on the Democratic side all have things they are very good at, which is why I intend to hire them. That's why, if you vote for me, you get all the other candidates too." 

Sebesta is facing Jason Belcher, Jason Griffth, and Heather French Henry in the Democratic primary.