Frankfort, Ky. (February 25, 2021) – Secretary of State Michael Adams praised the Kentucky House Committee on Elections, Constitutional Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs for passing by a 13-0 vote House Bill 574, Kentucky’s most significant election reform legislation since 1992.
“I’m grateful to legislators for joining across party lines to support permanent improvements to our election system,” Adams said. “As we showed in 2020, we don’t have to choose between expanding voter access and enhancing election integrity – we can have both.”
Adams testified during the hearing, explaining the bill’s provisions:
- Creating three days of early in-person voting, including a Saturday, with no excuse required
- Enhancing the ability of state election officials to remove nonresident voters from the voter rolls
- Transitioning toward universal paper ballots, statewide
- Permitting counties to establish vote centers, where any voter in the county may vote regardless of precinct
- Keeping the online voter portal, so absentee balloting is fully transparent both to voters and election officials
- Expressly prohibiting and penalizing ballot harvesting
- Retaining the signature cure process, so absentee voters whose signatures have changed over time have a chance to prove identity and have their ballots counted
The bill now heads to the House floor for consideration.
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