Frankfort, KY (July 16, 2020) – Complying with a federal judge’s order for an update on the status of Kentucky’s voter rolls, Secretary of State Michael Adams proudly informed the court that, under his new administration, Kentucky is aggressively moving forward to remove dead and nonresident voters from its rolls.
As Adams stated in his court filing yesterday, “he has taken independent action to more promptly effectuate the cleanup of Kentucky’s voter rolls. In his bipartisan agreement with Governor Andy Beshear for the conduct of the June 23 elections . . . Secretary Adams won the following concessions:”
- In May, postcards were sent to every registered voter in Kentucky, both to inform them how they could vote in the June 23 primary, but also so that postcards undeliverable to dead or nonresident voters would be returned and those voters tracked for purposes of list maintenance.
- This month, each such voter who is not confirmed as deceased will receive individualized correspondence from the Secretary of State that prompts such voter to confirm in writing whether the voter has moved out of Kentucky; if so, the voter will be immediately removed from the voter rolls. By law, voters who have moved must consent to removal from the voter file and cannot otherwise be purged until two federal elections have passed after those voters have been identified and contacted, and have failed to respond, correct their voter information, or vote.
Adams’ action means Kentucky can proactively clean up its voter rolls in 2020, rather than waiting until after the 2022 elections. “When it comes to legal compliance, there’s a new sheriff in town. In order to make it easy to vote, we must persuade the public we are serious about making it hard to cheat,” Adams adds.
###