At 3.3 million, a record number of Kentuckians are registered to vote ahead of the November general election, according to the Secretary of State's Office.
The commonwealth will try to grow its voter rolls even further on Tuesday in conjunction with National Voter Registration Day.
Many agencies, high schools, and colleges and universities in Kentucky will be conducting voter registration drives with the signup deadline only two weeks away.
Western Kentucky University will host a registration drive at the Downing Student Union from 11:00am-2:00pm on Tuesday. Kentucky Protection and Advocacy will also stage voter registration booths across the state, including in Warren, Simpson, and Daviess counties. The agency is a member of REV-UP Kentucky, a non-partisan coalition of organizations that advocate for political participation for people with disabilities.
Democrats still outnumber Republicans in the bluegrass state by more than 275,000 voters. However, the GOP has added more than 58,000 registered voters since President Trump took office while Democrats have lost more than 2,500. The Associated Press reports the GOP registration boom nudged the number of registered Democrats below 50 percent in June for the first time in memory.
The November ballot will feature races for Congress, the state House and Senate, county offices, and the judiciary. Kentucky’s Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes says large ballots that feature many local races typically increase turnout in mid-term elections.
"The last time we had a midterm election, turnout was higher than it normally is, especially in presidential election years," Grimes told WKU Public Radio.
The state saw 46 percent voter turnout in the 2014 mid-terms.
Kentucky’s voter registration deadline is October 9. Registration can be done in county clerk’s offices and online at www.govoteky.com.
