A new state law recently passed by the Kentucky Legislature and signed into law last week by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear — HB 564 — will allow voters who cannot get to the polls on election day to cast an early ballot by walk-in vote.

Clinton County Clerk Nathan Collins said the law will allow absentee voting in the County Clerk’s office for a six-day period in early May. The same rule requirements for paper absentee balloting will apply; voters who vote by absentee via walk-in must verify an excuse.

Collins noted the law does not allow for walk-in voting on Saturdays, thus three days each over a two week period have been set aside early next month for voters to cast their ballot.

The early walk-in absentee voting will take place during normal business hours, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the County Clerk’s Office only on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, May 4, 5, and 6 and again on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, May 9, 10 and 11.

The County Clerk reminds walk-in absentee voters that the same requirements apply as mail-in absentees, which include: Social Security number, date of birth, mailing address and reason/excuse.

The legal criteria for being able to vote by absentee (including early walk-in) ballot are:

* Persons due to age, disability or illness;

* Student temporarily resides out of the county;

* Voters who temporarily reside outside the state, but who are still eligible to vote in Kentucky;

* Persons whose employment requires them to be out of the county all hours and/or all days of voting by machine.

Also, registered voters who need to vote by mail-in absentee have two methods of obtaining a ballot, either by picking one up at their local county clerk’s office or online at govoteky.com.

Ballots can be returned by mail or in person, but only by the voter or a parent/child/spouse of the voter.

The deadline to request a mail-in absentee ballot is Tuesday, May 3.

Also, persons changing their address have through next Monday, April 18, at 4 p.m. at the County Clerk’s office to turn in their new address and be eligible to vote in a new precinct (if applicable).

The change in walk-in absentee voting will not have an effect on regular” early absentee balloting available to all registered voters.

Early voting

dates, locations

Early voting remains scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 12, 13 and 14, each day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

There will be three locations in which voters can cast an early ballot for the upcoming primary, those being the Welcome Center just north of Albany; the South Kentucky RECC building in the Snow community; and the Clinton County Community Center, aka Senior Center.

No additional

non-partisan candidates

Meanwhile, no additional candidates have filed for non-partisan races which will appear on the general election ballot in November. This means the total number of candidates are unchanged over the past two weeks.

Persons seeking non-partisan races for Albany Mayor, Albany City Council, Clinton County Board of Education members in District 1 and 5 and three seats that make up the Soil Conservation District board have through June 7 to declare candidacy.

As of press time Tuesday, April 12, only seven total candidates had filed for the aforementioned positions.

The May primary election will take place on Tuesday, May 17.

For more information on absentee voting or any other election related questions, contact the Clinton County Clerk’s Office at 606-387-5943.