Early in-person voting will be Thursday-Saturday

Starting later this week, Whitley County voters will be able to go to the polls early on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to cast their ballots for governor, attorney general, secretary of state and a handful of other statewide races, but it doesn’t appear likely that they will be doing so in large numbers.

Whitley County Clerk Carolyn Willis said that in 2019, during the last statewide gubernatorial election, a total of 9,998 voters cast their ballots for governor in Whitley County or about 37 percent of registered voters.

She had initially hoped to have about a 40 percent voter turnout this year, but doesn’t see that happening at this point.

Willis said that so far she hasn’t had enough phone calls or in-person questions about the election to lead her to believe that turnout will get this high.

“I’d say we will be lucky to hit 35 percent,” she added.

Willis said Monday afternoon that 366 absentee ballots had been mailed out and as of Monday 225 ballots had been returned to her office by mail.

“Of course, we will get more this week,” she added.

Willis said that she had been hoping there would have been enough voter interest to mail out about 500 absentee ballots for this election.

Willis said she thinks 366 requests for mail-in ballots is low, but she is hoping many of those people will do early in-person voting instead.

There are now a total of 27,283 people registered to vote in Whitley County.

There will be in-person early voting for everyone on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It can be done either at the clerk’s office in the old courthouse in Williamsburg, or at the old district courtroom at the old Corbin City Hall.

Early voting will take place from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Willis said that after reviewing early voting turnout during the May Primary Election, there wasn’t enough voting that took place after 4 p.m. on Saturday to justify keeping the polls open again until 8 p.m. on Saturday.

“I am hoping for a good turnout for the three days of early, in-person voting. I would love for the secretary of state to see how well people love the early voting,” she added.

Election Day voting will take place from 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 6, at eight voting centers located throughout Whitley County, including locations at Williamsburg Independent School, Whitley County High School, Pleasant View Elementary School, Whitley East Elementary School, Whitley North Elementary School, Oak Grove Elementary School, Corbin City Hall and Sanders Creek Church, which is in the Canadatown area.

Previously, you could only cast your Election Day ballot at your voting precinct out of which there were 36 located in Whitley County, but now you can cast your Election Day ballot at any of the eight voting centers.

The most prominent race on Tuesday’s ballot will be the gubernatorial race, which will pit incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and incumbent Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman against Republican challenger Attorney General Daniel Cameron and his running mate Robert M. “Robby” Mills, who is running for Lt. Governor.

Several other statewide races will also be on the ballot, including:

• Attorney General – Republican Russell Coleman vs. Democrat Pamela Stevenson
• Secretary of State – incumbent Republican Michael Adams vs. Democratic challenger Charles “Buddy” Wheatley
• Treasurer – Republican Mark H. Metcalf vs. Democrat Michael Bowman.
• Auditor of Public Accounts – Republican Allison Ball vs. Democrat Kimberly “Kim” Reeder.
• Agriculture Commissioner – Republican Jonathan Shell vs. Democrat Sierra J. Enlow.

There is one local, uncontested race on some Whitley County ballots as Paula Parker Grubb is unopposed in her bid to fill out the unexpired Whitley County Board of Education Third-District seat.

Grubb was appointed to the position in early February following the resignation of board member Malorie Cooper, who moved outside of the district.