After a busy election season, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have taken home the electoral college. Votes are still being tallied nationwide in the Presidential Race, but Trump surpassed the 270 votes needed to take the White House early Wednesday morning. Kentucky remained red this year, with just over two million votes cast and a 58% voter turnout. Rowan lagged behind at a 56% voter turnout countywide.
Still, thousands of voters flocked to the Morehead Conference Center to cast ballots for city council and board of education members, as well as state lawmakers. As they put in their votes, many Rowan County residents said they had the security of the election process on their minds.
Steve Young is a long-time voter in Rowan County. He said when reflecting on this year and past election cycles, the measures taken county and statewide have bolstered his confidence in the integrity of the election.
“I don’t believe our election process has ever been as secure and as safe as it is this time. With all the turmoil that we have gone through and the misinformation and so on. It is just ridiculous that a democracy would have to go through this,” said Young.
Kentucky voters decided more than their pick for the country’s next president on Tuesday. Steve West has won the bid for state senator of the 27th district, which also represents Bourbon, Fleming, Harrison, Mason, Nicholas, Robertson, and part of Fayette counties. Other candidates, including U.S. Representative Hal Rogers and State Representative Richard White, ran unopposed.
Tristan Prater, a voter in Rowan County, said he does not have a lot of trust in the election process nationwide. However, he said voting went smoothly for him in Morehead, and he felt more secure using the state’s paper ballot.
“You still put them into an electric machine, instead of going through the ballots themselves. Technology is technology, though, so you never know,” said Prater.
The Morehead City Council got a mix-up, welcoming new members Darrell Littleton and Michael Kash. Long-time council members David Perkins and Jan Bishop did not win their re-election bids. New council members are expected to be sworn in at the council’s monthly meeting scheduled for December 9.
The proposed state constitutional Amendment 1, prohibiting non-citizens from voting in any election, also passed the popular vote. Meanwhile, Amendment 2, which allows public tax dollars to be contributed toward private and charter schools, did not pass.