Clinton County Clerk Nathan Collins would like to remind citizens of Albany and Clinton County that there “will not” be any elections held during the 2021 calendar year. This will give his office staff somewhat of a break as they gear up for 2022.

Collins explained that each “odd” fourth year following a Presidential election, there are no elections the following year.

Several years ago, to make elections more uniform in Kentucky, the state legislature passed a bill making all elections, i.e. local and federal, to fall in “even” years. However, that piece of legislation did not include state-wide races, such as governor and other state offices, which are still held during odd calendar years, with the exception of the year following a Presidential election.

Although there will be no election for registered voters to participate in this year, they can definitely make up for the votes in 2022 when a host of races will appear on the ballot both in the May primary and the November general election.

All local races, county- wide and city-wide, as well as all Congressional seats, local district judicial races and a race for Judge of the Court of Appeals will be on the ballot.

About the only localized races that will not be on next year’s ballot will be that of Clinton Circuit Clerk and 40th Judicial Circuit Judge. Those seats are six and eight year terms ,respectively, and will not be up for election in 2022.

The county clerk also reminds voters they have until December 31 of this year to change their party registration in order to be able to vote in their new party’s primary next May.

Registration books for anyone wishing to register remain open and will not be closed (temporarily) until sometime in April of next year, according to the county clerk.

Collins, who expects to see a high number of candidates and high percentage of voters take part next year due to local races, also noted that candidates for next year’s ballot can begin filing late this year.

Collins said that candidates seeking office in races in 2022 can begin filing this November. County-wide candidates will have until January 7 to declare their intent to seek office. However, city candidates, who run non-partisan and will not be on the ballot until November 2022, will have until June 7 of next year to file their intent to seek a political office.

As of the end of last week, 7,716 residents were registered to vote in Clinton County. Republicans still out distance Democrats by a wide margin in the county, with 6,470 GOP voters being registered compared to 1,071 Democrat voters.

Collins also briefly discussed early voting, which was popular among many voters last year–partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which avoided longer lines at the polls on actual election day.

He said a bill is currently in the Kentucky legislature that, if passed and signed into law, would allow for three days of “early voting,” those being Thursday, Friday and Saturday the week prior to Election Day week (no voting on Monday, the day before the election) and regular poll voting on Tuesday.

Collins also would like to encourage persons not registered to vote to do so in his office during regular business hours. Also, anyone with questions about the election process may call the County Clerk’s office at 606-387-5943.