Kentucky voting issues

Election and registration information

 * Information for Military and Overseas Citizens.

2008 election
For the 2008 election Kentucky used the following voting machines. For a county-by-county list of the specific machines (and the source for this section) see Verified Voting's Verifier tool.

Direct-Recording Electronic (DRE) machines with a paper trail:
 * Hart Intercivic eSlate 3000
 * ES&S iVotronic
 * Diebold AccuVote TSx

Direct-Recording Electronic (DRE) machines without a paper trail:
 * Danaher Controls Shouptronic 1242
 * Microvote MV-464

Optical scan machines:
 * Hart Intercivic E-Scan
 * Diebold AccuVote (including Diebold AccuVote ES-2000)

Governmental election authorities
State Board of Elections


 * Website: http://www.elect.ky.gov/

Contact information:
 * State Board of Elections
 * 140 Walnut Street
 * Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
 * Phone: (502) 573-7100
 * FAX: (502) 573-4369 or (502)696-1952


 * Email: use the form on the website.

Locate your county clerk

Election threats

 * For an extensive log of voting machine problems, see the VotersUnite! report on election incidents.


 * On September 30, 2008, the Brennan Center for Justice released a comprehensive report on voter purging . Appendix A of the report, titled Kentucky Case Study, begins, "Kentucky’s 120 counties were home to a total of 2,766,288 registered voters, out of a population of 4,206,074, at the time of the November 2006 general elections. Between 2005 and 2006, 148,023 registrants were deleted from state voter lists, representing 5.4% of the registered population."
 * November 5, 2008. A northern Kentucky judge decided the county could open its voting machines and count votes made before an equipment malfunction was discovered on Election Day.

Felon voting rights
Quoting from an October, 2008 report on "de facto disenfranchisement" (summary)(download PDF) co-published by the Brennan Center for Justice and the ACLU: "'People with misdemeanor convictions in Kentucky do not lose the right to vote. However, 53% of county clerks interviewed in 2005 responded incorrectly to the question of whether individuals with misdemeanor convictions are eligible to vote. Nearly 40% of the clerks interviewed stated that those with misdemeanor convictions are not eligible to vote; and 14% were uncertain how to answer the question. This error is particularly egregious in Kentucky which has one of the most restrictive disenfranchisement laws in the country.  A felony conviction in Kentucky results in loss of the right to vote for life unless the individual is granted clemency by the governor.'"