The grassroots advocacy organization Kentuckians for the Commonwealth has released a checklist for the upcoming election, laying out ways to “improve upon that election process and give Kentuckians the election we deserve – one that makes voting safe, convenient, secure and robust.”
The list from KFTC was also included in a letter sent to Governor Beshear, SOS Adams, and all members of the State Board of Elections. The letter was signed by 54 organizations from across the state. (Disclosure: Forward Kentucky was one of those organizations.)
Here is the list of election process suggestions. It will be interesting to see how many of these are included in the final plan for the election as agreed to by the governor, the secretary of state, and the board of elections.
KFTC checklist for the November 2020 election
- Community input at the county and state levels – voters deserve to provide input on the process.
- No new photo ID rules (SB 2) so people don’t need to photocopy ID when voting by mail and there’s no confusion about what ID people need to vote.
- Include www.CivilRightsRestoration.KY.gov so the 170,000 Kentuckians whose voting rights were respected through Governor Beshear’s executive action know that they can vote.
- Accessible election materials: large print for Kentuckians with visual impairments, written
at a 4th grade reading level, include visual guides, and Spanish translation in counties with a significant Spanish-speaking population. - Strong poll worker training: accessible, vast and starts as soon as possible.
- Resources for voters to ask and get answers to questions: a statewide hotline staffed by well-trained workers and a centralized website sharing each county’s voting process and hours.
- Free mail-in option for all Kentuckians, without an extra step to mail an application.
- Early in-person voting for weeks before Election Day, including evening and weekend hours so essential workers and others can find time to vote.
- More polling locations than in the primary, particularly in our most populous counties.
- Polling locations open late – until 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. on Election Day.
- Accurate and public-facing ballot tracking, including whether someone’s vote counted or was rejected, with an option to fix or resubmit rejected ballots.
- Publicly-accessible drop boxes for ballots.
- A well-funded public information campaign to spread the word about changes to the election process statewide, with a focus on communities with low voter turnout and limited access to the internet and libraries.
The state’s plan should be released soon. Let us hope it matches this list fairly closely, if not completely.
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