Frankfort, Ky. (April 7, 2021) – Secretary of State Michael Adams thanked Governor Andy Beshear for signing House Bill 574 into law today.
“Last year, Governor Beshear and I worked across party lines to accommodate our election process to the pandemic, and we had the most secure and successful election we’ve ever seen,” Adams said. “This year, the General Assembly has followed suit, working across party lines to enact the most significant reform of our election system since 1891. This is a triumph of both policy and process.”
“I’m grateful to Governor Beshear for signing this bill, which will make our elections both more accessible and more secure at the same time. While other states are caught up in partisan division, Kentucky is leading the nation in making it both easier to vote and harder to cheat.”
The law includes:
- Creating three days of early in-person voting, including a Saturday, with no excuse required
- Enhancing the ability of state election officials to remove nonresident voters from the voter rolls
- Transitioning toward universal paper ballots, statewide
- Keeping the online voter portal, so absentee balloting is fully transparent both to voters and election officials
- Permitting counties to establish vote centers, where any voter in the county may vote regardless of precinct
- Expressly prohibiting and penalizing ballot harvesting
- Retaining the signature cure process, so absentee voters whose signatures have changed over time have a chance to prove identity and have their ballots counted