FRANKFORT, Ky. (August 24, 2020) – Following enactment of Photo ID to Vote in Kentucky – Secretary of State Michael Adams’ central campaign issue and highest policy priority – it was challenged in court by the ACLU, League of Women Voters, Louisville Urban League, Kentucky Conference of NAACP Branches, and other left-leaning organizations in three separate federal and state cases.
As of today, all these challenges have been withdrawn and Senate Bill 2 will go into effect.
“Photo ID is what I ran on, won on, helped write, helped pass, helped pass again over the Governor’s veto, and personally signed into law over the Governor’s veto,” Adams said. “The final step was to successfully defend Photo ID to Vote in court, and with that now achieved, it will be the law of the land.”
As part of Adams’ plan recommended to, and approved by, Governor Andy Beshear, Senate Bill 2 will be fully implemented, with two narrow exceptions. First, Kentucky voters who lack a Photo ID and cannot obtain one due to COVID-19 will be able to vote if they produce an approved non-photo ID and execute a written oath. Second, Kentucky voters who have a Photo ID but, due to COVID-19, cannot produce a photocopy of it along with their written application for an absentee ballot will be exempted from the Photo ID requirement. The absentee ballot request portal at govoteky.com, however, makes these written applications unnecessary, and the portal is linked to Kentucky’s drivers license database for purposes of ID verification.
Adams reminds Kentuckians to bring their Photo IDs when they vote in person October 13 through November 3.