Voter roll cleanup purges more than 100,000 inactive Ky. voters

Published 10:09 am Monday, March 27, 2023

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Now that the recent purge of the voter rolls is complete, Secretary of State Michael Adams announced Friday that 82 of Kentucky’s 120 counties have seen a decline in voter registration since he took office in January 2020.

Overall, 3,792 voters were added in February, while 132,205 were removed.  127,436 were inactive voters, 3,714 who had passed away, 441 voters who moved out of state, 422 due to being convicted of felonies, 44 were judged mentally incompetent and 148 who voluntarily de-registered.

“In an era of historic voter interest and turnout, the voter rolls have shrunk in two-thirds of our counties,” said Adams. “This proves the diligent work of our election officials, and the falsity of recent claims that our rolls are bloated.”

The clean-up of the voter rolls was performed due to a consent decree issued in federal court because of a case brought successfully by the conservative group Judicial Watch, which claimed Kentucky had not been purging voter rolls as they should have, leading some counties to have more registered voters than voting age population.

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Republican registrants now account for 45.7% of the electorate, with 1,584,086 voters. Republican registration decreased by 51,299 voters, which represents a 3.14% drop. Those registered as Democrats make up 44.3% of the electorate, with 1,536,302 voters. Democrats’ registration fell by 62,171 voters, a 3.89% decrease.

There are currently 344,034 voters registered as Independent or under other political parties, who now make up 10% of Kentucky voters. “Other” registration decreased by 14,943 voters, which is a 4.16% decrease.