LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky lawmaker is part of a group suing election officials and the Governor to get more polling places in Kentucky’s most populated areas for the June primary.

 

What You Need To Know


  • Lawsuit wants more in-person polling places in metro areas

  • Rep. Jason Nemes doesn't want long lings

  • Nemes wants 16 polling locations in Jefferson County

  • Clerk says it would be difficult

 

State Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, doesn’t want to see long lines at polling places in Kentucky later this month, similar to what happened in Georgia and Wisconsin recently.

"You shouldn’t have to go to one location and wait in line for hours to vote," Nemes said. "That is dangerous because of COVID, but it’s also vote-suppressive."

Kentucky has expanded absentee voting to everyone for the June 23 primary, hoping to avoid in-person voting because of the coronavirus.

But many counties, including Jefferson and Fayette, only have one in-person polling place.

Nemes said he’s worried about absentee ballots getting to people in time because the government makes mistakes all the time.

"That doesn’t mean there was an intention to it, but there’s going to be mistakes made," Nemes said. "For instance, if I don’t receive my ballot, I will go in and vote on election day. But I’m hyper-involved. For those people who want to vote, but they didn’t receive their vote, they very well may not go all the way to the Fairgrounds and vote."

Nemes said he requested a ballot on May 22 but hasn’t received it yet. Other concerns include lack of internet access among the black and rural population to request absentee ballots, and the health of older Kentuckians and those with disabilities if they have no other option to vote. 

Nemes wants Jefferson County to open up 16 polling places, but Jefferson County Clerk’s spokesman Nore Ghibaudy said that would be difficult.

"It would be a nightmare to try and figure out that part, and yet do the whole entire election in the manner that we’re doing it," Ghibaudy said.

Ghibaudy said it costs $350,000 to print enough ballots for everyone, a cost that would be magnified if they had to cover multiple polling places.

"We don’t know who will walk into what polling location," Ghibaudy said. "We’d have to have them all available at each one. You can’t say, well, I’m going to send one-third of them to this one, or one-eighth or one-sixteenth of them to each one of them, or we would run out."

Ghibaudy says he’s confident the Jefferson County polling place at the Kentucky State Fairgrounds is safe, and everyone will have the ability to vote absentee.

Jefferson, Fayette, Kenton, Boone, and Campbell counties are all named in the lawsuit, and Nemes said each county should be able to have more polling locations.

"I understand there are logistical problems here. Government must overcome those logistical problems when we’re talking about something as fundamental as the right to vote," Nemes said.

Nemes does not face an opponent in the Republican primary for his seat in the Kentucky House. The Democrat running against him, Margaret Plattner, also does not have an opponent in the primary.