Do you know when the Voter Registration Deadline is? In the state of Kentucky, it depends on who you ask.

In an attempt to check KFTC’s Election Calendar, we called the State Board of Elections and several County Clerk’s offices throughout the state to verify the Voter Registration date, but got conflicting information.

Kentucky law states that the voter registration Deadline is 28 days before the Election (which in this case falls on November 6th.) Therefore, the voter registration deadline should be on Monday, October 8th… except that’s when Columbus Day is observed.  In accordance with Kentucky Law, the registration deadline should therefore be moved back a day to Tuesday, October 9th.

Two separate staff members at the State Board of Elections, as well as their website claim instead that the Voter Registration deadline is on Wednesday, October 10th.

We called 12 County Clerks of the largest counties in the state with a good mix of different geographic areas and got very different information.

Jefferson, Fayette, Woodford, Madison, Casey, and Pike County Clerk’s Offices confirm the date of the deadline as Tuesday, October 9th.  But Laurel, Rowan, McCracken, Daviess, and Kenton County Clerks claim the deadline is the 8th. Only Henderson’s County Clerk said it was the October 10th.

To sum up, logic and the majority of County Clerk offices we surveyed say it’s the 9th, the State Board and one County Clerk surveyed say it’s the 10th, and a large minority of County Clerk offices say it’s the 8th.

The voters should rightly be confused. How can non-profit organizations like KFTC run effective voter registration campaigns if we don’t even know when the voter registration deadline is? How many people won’t be able to cast their vote because of all of this confusion?

Please Contact your local County Clerk and ask them to clarify this.

Or call the State Board of Elections at (502) 573-7100. 

UPDATE 9/11/07: The Kentucky Secretary of State has quietly changed its announced voter registration deadline on its on the front page of its website from October 10th to October 9th.  Thanks to everyone who helped to raise awareness of this error and who called to put pressure on the Board of Elections. 

We can comfortably say that the Voter Registration Deadline is October 9th.