FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 28, 2020) – Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Kentucky’s top prosecutor, and Secretary of State Michael Adams, Kentucky’s chief election official, have formed a team of election officials, law enforcement professionals, and others to monitor the 2020 primary election and investigate and deter vote fraud. The Ballot Integrity Task Force brings key stakeholders in the electoral process and criminal justice system together to ensure ballot integrity.
Secretary Adams said, “As we’ve made it easy to vote in this election, we’ve also made it hard to cheat, with identify verification necessary to obtain an absentee ballot, monitoring of addresses requesting multiple absentee ballots, tracking of absentee ballots received and sent, and required matching of voter signatures before an absentee ballot is accepted. Add to that, we are working with high-level state and federal law enforcement to ensure against election misdeeds.”
Attorney General Cameron said, “We are charged with investigating and prosecuting any election law violations that occur during the upcoming primary. The formation of the Ballot Integrity Task Force by Secretary Adams will assist us in these efforts and ensures an open line of communication among our state and federal partners. In light of changes to the process resulting from COVID-19, the integrity of our election has never been more important, and I appreciate the shared commitment of each of the task force members."
State election officials will provide law enforcement with details of ballots requested and sent, information about suspicious behavior or anomalies, and any evidence of irregularities. Particular attention will be paid to jurisdictions hosting competitive elections for local office, which, unlike Kentucky’s statewide or congressional races, occasionally have proved vulnerable to election offenses in recent history.
The Ballot Integrity Task Force is made up of the Attorney General’s Office, the Secretary of State’s Office, the State Board of Elections, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for Kentucky’s Eastern and Western Districts, the Kentucky State Police, the U.S. Postal Service, the Kentucky Department of Homeland Security, and the Kentucky Army National Guard.
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