Politics

Kentucky's secretary of state is one of a half-dozen from across the country going the Middle East to assist soldiers to vote. The Lexington Herald-Leader says the Federal Voting Assistance Program and the Department of Defense asked Alison Lundergan Grimes to spend two weeks in September traveling in Afghanistan, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to meet with American uniformed soldiers.

A federal judge in Nashville says he isn't convinced photo IDs issued by the public library in Memphis meet the state standard to vote. But U.S. District Judge Kevin H. Sharp also expressed concern at a Wednesday hearing that poll workers were discouraging people who presented the IDs from voting on provisional ballots.