At 10:30 AM Thursday morning, the early voting line at the Trigg County Emergency Operations Center ran down Jefferson Street and past the former Burger Barn building.
When greatly anticipated rains finally arrived in Cadiz and western Kentucky, Trigg County Clerk Carmen Finley and her staff rearranged and shuttled folks indoors — so they could wait in dry conditions before casting ballots.
Around 3 PM Thursday afternoon, she and others relieved poll workers for a 30-minute break — having been too busy for lunch or a visit to the restroom.
And as of 3:30 PM Thursday afternoon, more than 540 of Trigg County’s 12,000-plus registered voters had made their decisions about things like medical marijuana dispensaries, Amendments 1 and 2, President of the United States, the Cadiz City Council and the Trigg County Public Schools Board of Education.
Combine this with the 300-plus who have already mailed in their absentee ballots, and it means roughly 7% of Trigg County’s electorate is already in the bank.
Finley said a visitor from the attorney general’s office confirmed early voting lines all over west Kentucky were “just everywhere.”
Early voting in Trigg County continues from 10 AM until 6 PM Friday and Saturday at the EOC, and Finley said citizens should be prepared for a little bit of a wait.
In a recent visit to the Cadiz Rotary Club, Finley noted the same seven polling locations will be available for voting Tuesday, November 5.
However, voting sooner might be better.
Regarding mail-in ballots, Finley said the due diligence is always necessary.
Kentucky’s voter ID requirements are outlined state law, in which election officers shall confirm the identity of each voter by personal acquaintance or by a document, such as a motor vehicle operator’s license, Social Security card, any identification card that has been issued by the county and which has been approved in writing by the State Board of Elections, any identification card with picture and signature, any United States government-issued identification card, any Kentucky state government-issued identification card with picture, or credit card.