FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Kentuckians choosing to vote by absentee mail-in balloting in next month’s primary won’t have to pay for postage under a decision by state elections officials Friday.
The State Board of Elections adopted the free postage at a special meeting conducted online, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported. The board also said county clerks will be able to hire temporary help to manage the election during the coronavirus pandemic.
The board’s emergency regulations follow Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive order last week that calls on all voters to use absentee voting by mail if they can in the June 23 primary election. Beshear worked out the plan with Secretary of State Michael Adams on how to conduct the election.
The elections board, with former U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler as its chair, approved $1 million to $1.2 million to pay postage for voters to return their absentee ballots to county clerks and $1 million to $1.1 million for county clerks to hire staffers for four weeks to help with the election.
Chandler said afterward that the money will come from the federal CARES Act plus matching funds from the state.
The regulation said a clerk may hire four temporary staffers, but Chandler said some clerks might need more.
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