Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to amend and pass a bill that amends various election laws and regulations in Kentucky.

Highlights:

• Authorizes intergovernmental agreements for the exchange of voter data to assist in investigating violations of election offenses (Sec. 1).

• Amends the required date for county clerks to equip voting systems with the supplies to accept write-in votes from the Friday before an election to the day before any in-person voting may begin (Sec. 4).

• Requires county boards of elections to transmit summary information of the results from each precinct to the State Board of Elections within 10 days after any primary or general election (Sec. 7).

• Reduces the threshold of votes that a political party’s candidate must have obtained in the previous presidential election in order to be defined as a political party from 20% to 10% (Sec. 10).

• Authorizes the governing authority of a political party to replace a candidate or nominee if a vacancy occurs more than 10 days before the certification of candidates due to either death or withdrawal, including in contested races (Sec. 11).

• Requires the Secretary of State - not the State Board of Elections - to prescribe the form in which the notification and declaration of candidacy for a party candidate shall appear (Sec. 12-17).

• Requires candidates for state attorney to file their nomination papers with the Secretary of State after the first Wednesday following the first Monday in November of the year preceding the relevant election (Sec. 14).

• Exempts candidates for a special election or election for an unexpired term from the requirement to file a statement-of-candidacy form (Sec. 16).

• Classifies voting before becoming a U.S. citizen as a Class B misdemeanor (Sec. 19).

• Requires a district board of education to submit a property tax levy proposition to voters within 50-60 days after the signatures on the initiative petition are validated, and requires the local Circuit Court to cover all costs of the election (Sec. 20).

• Prohibits changes to the boundary of any division in which a school board member serves after June 1 of the year in which the school board member is to be elected (Sec. 21).

• Prohibits a county board of elections from disclosing or reporting the official certification of votes for a candidate who withdraws, dies, or is disqualified from an election, or the other candidate(s) in such election (Sec. 25-28).

• Specifies that this Act takes effect immediately upon passage (Sec. 30).

Full Bill Text