Senate may balk at early voting bill

By MIKE JAMES - The Independent

FRANKFORT Tue, May 13 2008

— A bill to allow early, absentee voting in the upcoming primary election may face tough going in the Kentucky Senate.
The bill would allow voting at least 12 working days before the election; current law allows absentee voting for eight specific reasons, including being out of town on election day.
The bill, which has passed the House of Representatives, may be difficult to pass because of the possible cost of additional voting machines, said Sen. Walter “Doc” Blevins, D-West Liberty.
“The problem is fiscal impact,” said Blevins, who is in favor of the bill. One estimate calls for 152 additional voting machines at a cost of $760,000, he said.
The cost initially would be borne by county boards of election, but those boards probably would expect the state to find the money somewhere, he said.
Legislation requiring additional state expenditure isn’t likely to go over well in the Senate during the current budget crunch, he said.
Cost wouldn’t likely be a factor in Boyd County, said County Clerk Debbie Jones.
She doesn’t think early voting would require more voting machines here and sees expanded absentee voting as a convenience issue. “We want to maintain the convenience to the public,” she said.
Voter responsibility is more important than broadening voter access, said Sen. Charlie Borders, R-Grayson. “I’m not overly concerned about changing the process. It works very well in Kentucky,” he said. “I’m more concerned about the people being informed so they vote intelligently based on issues and the candidates.”
Local party officials say early voting would change the nature of campaigning.
“It might make candidates start their campaigns earlier to get their message out,” said Boyd County Republican chairwoman Mary Kay Wheeler.
However, the procedure would call for precautions to prevent voting fraud, she said.
“It would make campaigning a different job,” said Boyd County Democratic chairwoman Marcus Woodward. Candidates would have to anticipate the early vote potential and get their campaigns in gear much quicker. “They would have to look at not just one day but a window of opportunity.”
With asset and resource management being one of the chief issues in any campaign, getting committed voters to the polls as early as possible would leave more time and money to concentrate on swing voters and less-than-frequent voters, he said.
Also, if enough voters cast their ballots early, it would eliminate the so-called “October surprise” phenomenon, the bombshell news event revealed shortly before election day with the potential to sway the result.
MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.