Warren County residents will see some changes when early voting for the May 17 primary begins Thursday.
Traditional polling precincts will be replaced by five vote centers scattered throughout the county. All vote centers will be open to any registered voter, regardless of where they live in the county.
Warren County Clerk Lynette Yates said no-excuse early voting and other changes brought on by the pandemic were good for elections.
“Everything we heard in 2020 was so positive and that’s why we’re continuing with that plan,” Yates said. “And I’m not saying that plan is going to be in place forever. We want to look at it after this election. We will be doing this in November for the general election because our election plan has been approved by the state.”
Yates added she expects more voters to cast a ballot early than on Tuesday’s primary election day.
“We had over 31,000 people vote in the general election in 2020 during that three weeks, and election day we had very few. When you have the convenience of being able to vote on a Saturday, that will bring a lot of voters out, so we kind of anticipate the same thing.”
Warren County’s five vote centers will be located at Phil Moore Park; Living Hope Baptist Church; Ephraim White Park; Sugar Maple Square; and Buchanon Park.
Those locations will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for early voting Thursday, May 12, through Saturday, May 14.
Three more Warren County vote centers will be added on the primary election day at the new Cumberland Trace Elementary School, Warren Central High School, and the University of Kentucky extension office.
Polls will be open on Tuesday from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.