Legislation designed to make it easier for Kentuckians to vote in upcoming elections is one step closer to becoming law.
The Kentucky Senate passed House Bill 574, the election reform bill, Tuesday afternoon by 33 to 3 vote.
House Bill 574 creates three days of early in-person voting, including a Saturday, with no excuse required. The legislation will also enhance the ability of state election officials to remove nonresident voters from the voter rolls, transition toward universal paper ballots statewide, and keeping the online voter portal, so absentee balloting is fully transparent both to voters and election officials. And the proposed legislation will prohibit and penalizing ballot harvesting, and retain the signature cure process, so absentee voters whose signatures have changed over time have a chance to prove identity and have their ballots counted.
Secretary of State Michael Adams thanked the Kentucky Senate for passing House Bill 574. Adams said “I’m grateful to our state senators for putting voters first. He added, “Our legislators deserve enormous credit for making Kentucky’s election system a national model in the 2022 elections and beyond.”
The bill now heads back to the House for concurrence in minor amendments made by the Senate.