Early voting underway before Tuesday's Primary Election

May 16—Pulaski County voters will continue to have options for when and where they go to the polls in 2024 ahead of this Tuesday's Primary Election.

Early voting began Thursday and will continue through Saturday, with Election Day on Tuesday, May 21.

Early voting options began in 2020 as a result of Covid-19 considerations, but have proven popular among voters and continued through subsequent election cycles.

This Friday and Saturday, a handful of voting locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. so Pulaski Countians who don't wish to vote on Tuesday can do so. Locations for early voting are the Hal Rogers Fire Training Center (180 Oak Leaf Lane), the South Kentucky RECC building (200 Electric Avenue), and the Rocky Hollow Recreational Center (142 South Central Avenue), and also on Saturday only, Nancy Elementary School (240 Ky. 196).

On Tuesday, Election Day, there will be nine total voting locations across Pulaski County. In addition to the previously mentioned four, people can also vote at Science Hill School (6007 North U.S. 27), Oak Hill Baptist Church (2135 Oak Hill Road), Jordan Baptist Church (145 Lakeshore Drive) in Burnside, the Old Shopville gym (819 Mark Shopville Road), and the East Somerset Baptist Church Fellowship Hall (345 Pumphouse Road).

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

"You can vote anywhere in the county with our new system," said Pulaski County Clerk Tim Price. "You just have to have your official I.D. and you'll be able to vote wherever you are in the county. If you're driving by somewhere that's easier to vote (inside), you can do it there. Used to, it was limited to our precincts, but our new system has changed all that and it's much easier to find a place to vote."

There aren't many races of local interest on the ballot this time — two spots on the Somerset City Council with three candidates, non-partisan races that require the field to be cut down to two candidates by November's General Election.

There is also a Republic Primary race for the Fifth Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives held by Somerset's Hal Rogers since 1981. Rogers is running again, with Dana Edwards, Brandon Monhollen, and David E. Kraftchak Jr. also on the ballot.

And then there are Primary races for the Republican and Democrat fields for President of the United States, where former president Donald Trump and incumbent Joe Biden respectively have long been considered the presumptive nominees for their parties.

Price isn't expecting a large turnout this Primary Election as a result, and what he saw on Thursday enforced that opinion.

"So far, I've been around today to the (polling) places and it's been a pretty light turnout so far," he said. "This fall of course will be the big one."

That's because the presidential showdown between Biden and Trump is expected to be a big draw, and Price noted that having a slow Primary presents a good opportunity to ease poll workers into the process before the more hectic General Election — or even before the field of voting centers expands on Tuesday.

"What we're trying to do is train people up to get ready for the fall election," said Price. "... If you go in the polling places now, you think we're way over-staffed, and we are for today, but we have people there training for other locations."

For more information, visit pulaski.kycountyclerk.us/.