Jefferson County, where tech problems snarled voting, among 12 drawn for post-election inquiry
Republished from Kentucky Lantern
FRANKFORT — Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman on Wednesday randomly drew 12 Kentucky counties, including Jefferson, for a post-election inquiry.
Jefferson County, where stalled e-poll books delayed voting on Election Day, was among the counties pulled from a small bourbon barrel at the Capitol in Frankfort Wednesday.
The Attorney General’s Election Fraud Hotline received more than 700 calls during the 2024 election for possible election law violations. Nearly 350 of those calls were made on Election Day. Coleman said about 150 of the Election Day calls came from Jefferson County.
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“We’re undertaking this effort to help every Kentuckian have faith that their elections are free, fair and secure,” Coleman told reporters. “At the end of this professional, independent and fair inquiry, it’s our hope that our confidence in our elections remains high amongst our fellow Kentuckians.”
Coleman said he spoke with Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw, a Republican, ahead of the drawing and said she indicated she was willing to cooperate with the attorney general’s office if the county was selected for an inquiry.
“This is not an adversarial process,” Coleman said. “This is an opportunity to show Kentuckians that if something’s broken — and something was broken in Jefferson County. We know that. We know Ms. Holsclaw has made comments to that effect. We’ll continue to flush that out. We hope that this will be a collaborative process with her.”
On Election Day earlier this month, e-poll books crashing in Jefferson County led to voting delays. The Kentucky Democratic Party, joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, filed a lawsuit to extend voting time by two hours in the county, which is Kentucky’s most populous, but a judge denied the motion.
Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams later told the Kentucky Lantern the issue appeared to be “an error on the part of the office to not require that the e-poll books be turned on early enough to be able to process what they needed to process” and took from 6 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. to be resolved. The e-poll books are used by poll workers to electronically find a voter’s information before they are given a ballot. With large turnout for early voting, the e-poll books are key to quickly making sure someone does not vote twice.
Voter turnout in the 2024 general election dipped slightly in Jefferson County, as 56.6% of registered voters cast their ballots this year. In the same county, 61.4% of registered voters turned out in the 2020 election.
The counties selected for the post-election inquiry are:
- Edmonson County
- Warren County
- Barren County
- Boyle County
- Trigg County
- Lincoln County
- Metcalfe County
- Campbell County
- Jessamine County
- Daviess County
- Jefferson County
- Calloway County
A 2022 state law requires a routine inquiry of 12 randomly selected counties. The selection must be made within 20 days of the general election. Wednesday’s random drawing was open to reporters and live-streamed online for public viewing. The names of all 120 counties were in the barrel.
After the investigations are completed in the dozen counties, the attorney general’s office will present findings to grand juries in those counties.
The election fraud hotline, which is reachable by calling 1-800-328-VOTE, is always open to take messages, but was answered by attorney general’s office team members on Election Day. Allegations are referred to the office’s Department of Criminal Investigations. Online reports can be made as well.
Coleman said before drawing the counties that some of the calls spurred multiple criminal investigations and because they are active, he could not comment further on them at the time.
Ten AG inquiries into complaints from the primary election in May have been presented to grand juries with no findings of wrongdoing returned, Coleman said. Grand juries in the remaining two counties will review investigation results soon.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter. Kentucky Lantern stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
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