Secretary of State
Registrations Coming in at Record Pace Before Deadline

            (Frankfort, KY) Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, chairman of the State Board of Elections, said his staff is receiving a record number of voter registration cards and many county clerks around the state are reporting the same.  As of September 15, 2008, Kentucky had set a new record for voter registrations in the state and will set a new mark after the October 6^th voter registration deadline.

            “We are excited to see so many citizens registering to vote in the remaining days of the voter registration period,” said Secretary Grayson.  “Let me highly encourage citizens to visit vote.ky.gov to determine their voter registration status and to print off a voter registration card before it is too late.”

            As of September 15, the last reporting date for voter registration figures, 2,894,299 voters were registered to vote in Kentucky. 

Grayson said that the State Board of Elections is receiving hundreds of voter registration cards daily.  Employees indicated that this number far exceeds what they have seen in recent election cycles, and additional employees have been pulled to help process the cards. 

In addition, county clerks around Kentucky have reported receiving even higher daily figures than the State Board of Elections.  Some counties are having staff work 12-hour days or temporarily increasing staff to help with the increase in registrations.

The State Board of Elections will have final voter registration figures for the November 4^th General Election after the October 6^th deadline, allowing sufficient time for cards postmarked on October 6^th to arrive and be processed.

            Grayson noted that many voters had updated their voter registration address so that they are properly registered.  In Kentucky, if a voter has moved from one county to another prior to the voter registration books closing and he or she does not update his or her voter registration, that voter will not be allowed to vote in the general election.

The deadline to register is Monday, October 6th.  County Clerks’ offices throughout Kentucky will accept voter registration cards until the close of business that day.  A postmark of October 6 is also required for all mail-in voter registration applications. Registration cards can be obtained over the internet at www.vote.ky.gov/register. 

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