Kentucky conducts closed primaries. Under Kentucky law, all persons who want to vote in the Democratic Party’s or Republican Party’s Primary Election must have changed their party affiliation by December 31 of the year prior to the next Primary Election.

Per the new voting laws put into place through H.B. 574, requests for a mail-in absentee ballot shall be requested through a secure online portal established by the State Board of Elections. If a voter does not have the means to access the online portal, they may call the county clerk or arrive in person and provide the information that would be submitted into the portal. The voter will receive their ballot in the mail and are to return it by fourteen days preceding the election. If a voter's signature on their mail-in ballot does not match what is on record, the voter will be notified with a timeframe and manner in which the voter may cure his or her signature. All signature cures shall be completed before the closing of the polls on election day.

You may vote by absentee ballot by mail in Kentucky if:

• You are advanced in age, disabled, or ill
• You are a military personnel or their dependent, or an overseas citizen
• You are a student who temporarily resides outside the county
• You are a voter who temporarily resides outside of Kentucky and who maintains eligibility to vote in Kentucky, such as a “snowbird”
• You are incarcerated, but not yet convicted of a crime
• You are employed outside of the county all hours the polling place is open.

You can vote by absentee ballot in person in Kentucky if:

• You will be out of the county on election day or the days in-person absentee voting is conducted
• You are advanced in age, disabled, or ill
• You are a military personnel, their dependent, or an overseas citizen
• You are a military personnel confined to base and learn of your confinement within seven days or less of an election
• You are a student or resident who temporarily resides outside of the county
• You are a voter or the spouse of a voter who has surgery scheduled that will require hospitalization on Election Day
• You are a pregnant woman in the third trimester
• You are a precinct election officer appointed to serve in a precinct other than his own, an alternate precinct election officer, County Board of Elections’ members or staff, Deputy county clerk, or State Board of Elections’ staff

If you are voting in person in Kentucky, you must present one of the following forms of ID or be known by a precinct officer at the time you vote:

• Driver’s license
• Social Security card
• ID issued by the US government
• County issued identification card approved in writing by the State Board of Elections
• ID issued by the Kentucky government with your picture and signature
• Any ID with your picture and signature
• Credit card