The wait for Kentucky’s primary election results will be over at 6 p.m. Tuesday, but key races might be called by lunchtime.
Kentucky election officials have spent the last week counting ballots in an election that was largely conducted through the mail because of concerns over the spread of COVID-19.
As of noon Monday, about 87 percent of the absentee ballots mailed to voters (738,318) had been returned, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. That number is expected to grow some Monday. When added with in-person and early voting, Kentucky is on track for a potential record turnout.
Clerks have until 6 p.m. Tuesday to turn in their election results to the Secretary of State’s Office, but Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins said he hopes to have the unofficial Fayette County results uploaded onto the state’s website by mid-morning Tuesday.
The results will be available at https://elect.ky.gov/ after 6 p.m., according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Things will look similar in Jefferson County, where the clerks office has spent the past week counting 185,365 mail-in absentee ballots. The Jefferson County Board of Elections will meet at 10 a.m. when the election results will be tallied and sent to the State Board of Elections, according to Nore Ghibaudy, spokesman for the Jefferson County Clerk’s office.
Not every county clerk has been waiting to submit unofficial results. The Secretary of State’s Office posted results from Fleming, Wayne and Floyd counties on Twitter Monday afternoon.
The highest profile election is the Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate, where frontrunner Amy McGrath is trying to hold off Rep. Charles Booker, who surged late in the race. As of 3 p.m. Monday, AP results showed the race separated by only 20 votes, 39,649 for Booker and 39,629 for McGrath.
On Tuesday, McGrath flipped Barren County and Hardin County, both of which Booker was leading based on in-person voting totals. In Barren County, McGrath had 2,048 votes to Booker’s 1,480 votes, according to the Barren County Clerk’s Office. In Hardin County, McGrath won 5,150 votes to Booker’s 5,128, according to the Associated Press.