Whitley County Clerk Carolyn Willis is predicting a 60-65 percent voter turnout for the upcoming Nov. 5 General Election, which will see voters casting their ballots for President of the United States.
“It will be the biggest turnout ever, if we have that many,” Willis said.
While there have been a few phone calls by people asking questions about the two constitutional amendments on the Nov. 5 ballot, Willis said the presidential race is the one that people are “very, very concerned with” noting the economy now versus four years ago.
Nearly 55 percent of voters turned out in Whitley County to cast their ballots during the last presidential election in 2020. Voter turnout for 2016’s presidential election was 51.84 percent and 50.35 percent for the 2012 presidential election.
Another factor that Willis is basing her turnout estimate on is requests for mail-in absentee ballots, which are commonly used by elderly people, who physically can’t go to the polls to vote, and by people working out of state, attending college elsewhere, or who have a second home out-of-state.
This year 871 ballots were mailed out, and as of Friday afternoon, 605 had been mailed back already.
Willis said that there were more mail-in absentee ballots requested this year compared to past presidential elections although the ballot request numbers weren’t vastly different.
Those, who want to skip the lines voting on Election Day, will have three days to cast their ballots early this week.
Early voting for everyone, regardless of the reason, will take place Thursday, Oct. 31, Friday, Nov. 1, and Saturday, Nov. 2, at the old courthouse in Williamsburg, or in the old district courtroom adjacent to Corbin City Hall.
Voting on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 will be from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Willis noted that she is one of the few clerks in the state, who will have early voting open for 12 hours per day most days.
“We have a lot of working people, especially our healthcare workers, who work 12-hour shifts. I feel like this gives them an extra opportunity,” Willis said.
Voting on Nov 2 will take place from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Willis said previously that she limited the early voting on Saturday to 4 p.m. because past experience showed that there was very little voter turnout on Saturdays past 4 p.m.
Willis said that as a whole, early voting is increasing each year.
“The comments from people are wonderful. They love early voting so much, and they tell me that it gives them relief to know that they have already been to cast a vote versus waiting until Election Day and something would have happened where they couldn’t vote. Early voting has been a wonderful thing in Whitley County,” Willis said.
Election Day voting will take place from 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5, at nine voting centers located throughout Whitley County, including locations at Williamsburg Independent School, Whitley County High School, Corbin Primary School, Pleasant View Elementary School, Whitley East Elementary School, Whitley North Elementary School, Oak Grove Elementary School, Corbin City Hall and Sanders Creek Church, which is in the Canadatown area.
“I hope that everyone gets out here and votes with all these opportunities to vote that we have. I hope they utilize that opportunity to make a change,” Willis said.
The biggest contested race on the ballot will be for President of the United States with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, who is the current Vice-President, facing off against Republican nominee Donald J. Trump, who was the 45th President of the United States serving from 2017-2021.
There are also two constitutional amendments on the ballot.
Amendment 1 deals with whether you are in favor of amending the Kentucky Constitution to prohibit non-citizens from being allowed to vote. Amendment 2 deals with whether to allow public tax dollars to go schools other than public schools.
Voters in the Corbin Independent School District will also cast their ballots in a contested race as all three incumbent school board members Todd Childers, Stephen Mulberry and Keith Gibson, have all opted not to seek re-election when their terms expire at the end of the year.
Kimberly Sasser Croley, who lost a bid for re-election to the school board two years ago in a three-way race for two seats, is seeking election along with Benjamin “Ben” Childers, James David Hannah, Anthony Miller and Jeremiah Goforth. The top three vote getters in the Nov. 5 race will be elected to the Corbin Independent Board of Education, and will join incumbents Carcille Burchette and Paul Taylor.
