The Kentucky Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit against the state Board of Elections. The complaint stems from the board placing around 170,000 voters on an inactive list.
The Kentucky Democratic Party said it became aware of the inactive list after noticing that the state’s voter registration numbers declined by more than 167,000 between June and July.
Democrats called on the board last month to halt the policy and restore the voter registration rolls.
“After weeks of conversations with the State Board of Elections staff that raised more questions than it provided answers, we determined that we had no choice but to file this lawsuit in order to protect Kentucky voters from facing unfair burdens at the polls,” Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Ben Self said. “Our hope is that this will be resolved quickly and that voters can be confident heading into Election Day."
The Board of Elections says voters placed on the inactive list must update their registrations by November 2022 or else be removed, but anyone on the inactive list will still be able to cast a ballot in next month’s election. Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes says she’s heard those voters will have to re-register on election day.
“It’s not enough to says these folks are eligible to vote if we’re going to make them jump through three additional hoops when they get to the polls when they shouldn’t have to do that in the first place," Grimes told WKU Public Radio.
The state was ordered to update its voter registration records after the conservative group Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit claiming Kentucky was failing to remove ineligible voters, in violation of the National Voter Registration Act.
