07.30.2023 - By NCSL
As the pandemic raged during 2020, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, and Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican, were required by law to team up on the question of whether to postpone the election. They went much further, with bipartisan support from the Legislature, and instituted a long window for voting in a state that in modern times had only allowed voting on Election Day, with a few exceptions for absentee ballots. Voter turnout was high, and ballot security was unquestioned. That led the state to pass a bipartisan bill in 2021 making some of the expanded access permanent.