Early voting in Warren County: When and where voters can cast their ballots

A voter fills out her ballot in the Warren Central High School gym on the afternoon of Nov. 3, 2020.

Debra Murray, Co-Editor-in-Chief
October 24, 2022

Can’t make it out to the polls on election day? Thanks to early voting, Warren County residents who can’t visit their polling place on Nov. 8 can still cast their ballots.

Lynette Yates, Warren County Clerk, shared that in the last election, voters responded positively to access to early voting and voting in locations other than their precincts.

“We had such positive response in 2020,” Yates said. “[…] People just found that so convenient. And then of course allowing Saturday mornings, that those facilities had to be available as well.”

Last year, Kentucky House Bill 574 was passed, requiring counties to implement three days of in-person early voting. In May, during voting for the primary election, Yates said the turnout for early voting was incredibly low.

“We were very disappointed in our turnout for what we had for early voting, considering we’re offering these huge centers […] and so many people didn’t realize that you had early voting,” Yates said.

After a disappointing turnout, Yates said the county has put more effort into using social media to educate Warren County voters on early voting in hopes to get more people to the polls.

“It’s a process,” Yates said. “Everyone’s going to have to learn that things have changed, and just get used to that change.”

In May, the fiscal court will have “reinforcement” to analyze the populations in Warren County, including where most people reside. Yates said this process will allow the county to adjust voting locations if necessary.

“Once they have finished that and we see how populations are, we may make some adjustments to what we are planning […] but the plan is don’t change an election plan in the middle of a cycle,” Yates said.

The normal voting location that is most convenient for WKU students wasn’t available to be used for this election, Yates said. Instead of SKyPac, voters will be able to vote at Sugar Maple Square Shopping Center on election day.

“We’ve tried to have a close to downtown location, the location that we actually have now, that would be the closest probably for Western […] we weren’t able to get SKyPac back,” Yates said. “We’re actually trying to get that back because that would be the most convenient for [a] downtown location.”

Early voting in Warren County will take place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Nov 3, 4, and 5. On election day, Nov. 8, voting locations will be open from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m.

To view the ballot, visit Warren County Clerk’s website.