(The following article was reprinted from the April 8 edition of the Wayne County Outlook by Editor Melody Phelps)

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Legislation that would give state election officials more flexibility in conducting the 2020 primary election has been passed by the Kentucky General Assembly.

Secretary of State Michael G. Adams expressed appreciation to lawmakers who passed the legislation recently. Adams had testified before a Senate committee, asking for legislation to empower a change in the “manner” of an election in case of a state emergency.

Current state law permits the governor and secretary of state to change the “time” or “place” but not “manner” of an election. This measure would free the State Board of Elections to develop a primary election procedure more open to absentee voting, which may be necessary if the current pandemic continues into the spring.

At this point, Kentucky’s primary election has been postponed until June 23.

“It’s my concern, after an exhaustive process of consultation with our county clerks, the state Board of Elections and others, that we need to at least be prepared to have an expanded absentee balloting system available by June 23,” Adams said. “I’d like us to be able to prepare in advance for a situation where we have limited in-person voting and expanded voting by mail.”

Adams ruled out any move to a universal vote-by-mail system, noting a federal judge’s decree that Kentucky’s voter rolls have not been adequately maintained over the past decade, in violation of federal law. Hundreds of thousands of registered voters–including many who have moved out of state and registered to vote in their new home state–improperly remain on our rolls.

To assure legislators that ballot integrity will be safeguarded even with expanded voting by mail, Adams clarified that even with expanded absentee voting “we would still require people to apply for an absentee ballot, with some sort of verifying information, before they could be mailed a ballot.”