Starting in 2022, you will be able to vote at any polling location in Whitley County

Starting this year, gone will be the days when you show up to vote on Election Day only to be told that you are in the wrong location and you have to travel 10 miles down the road to the correct precinct in order to vote.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

Thanks in part to a change in state law, Whitley County Clerk Carolyn Willis will now have eight voting centers open on Election Day where anyone in the county can go vote as opposed to 36 precincts – a handful of which were in the same location – and you will be able to vote at whichever center you like.

The new voting centers will be spread throughout the county 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 located in the Canadatown area where there are no schools nearby.

I think this is a great move for the county and something that I have been advocating to do for years, which was just move all the voting precincts to the nearest school or government building in the community. It looks like my last column on the subject was in 2007.

Because of the pandemic in 2020, there were only two voting centers in Whitley County and voting seemed to go pretty smoothly.

Actually, when Kentucky Republicans held a presidential caucus in March 2016 – so Rand Paul could both run for president and run for re-election to the U.S. Senate – voting only took place in one location, which was the Whitley County High School Gym. Everybody seemed to have smiles on their faces when they voted there from everything that I could tell.

I think Willis has found a nice balance with eight voting centers that are geographically spread out throughout the county so people won’t have to drive too far to vote.

Another voting change next year is that there will be three full days of early voting prior to Election Day on the Friday, Saturday and Monday before the election at the county clerk’s offices in Williamsburg and Corbin.

One of the few things that voters in every party seemed to like last year was the increased early voting period, which in 2020 was about 30 days prior to the election.

Personally, I would like to see in-person early voting allowed for two weeks prior to Election Day, which I think would make it easier on people to go vote, particularly those, who actually work for a living.

Allowing two weeks of early in-person voting would require a change by the Kentucky General Assembly, which I think could happen if the public is vocal enough about wanting to see it happen.

Now for a few other thoughts before I conclude this column.

• The University of the Cumberlands’ campus just doesn’t look the same without the iconic viaduct, which officials are apparently in the process of replacing. I couldn’t hardly believe it when I saw it this morning.
• When it comes to construction on the new historical wagering facility being built off Exit 11 in Williamsburg, wow! This thing is really going up fast. (It’s amazing how fast a new building can go up when the government isn’t the one building it…LOL.) It should be something to see both inside and out once it is completed. I suspect this facility will get a lot of visitors playing the “historical wagering” machines once it is complete, but the more curious question might be how many local residents end up going there. I suspect there will be several Williamsburg residents, who never go inside.