Primary election is today

MURRAY – Today is Primary Election Day in Kentucky, and registered Calloway County voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots at any one of the seven voting centers that will be open today.

Voting centers on Election Day may be used by any Calloway County registered voter regardless of their address. The centers will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will include:

• CFSB Center at 1401 KY 121 in Murray, North Entrance B

• New Concord Church of Christ at 121 Artesian Drive in New Concord

• Elm Grove Baptist Church at 6483 KY 94 East in Murray

• Hazel Baptist Church at 101 Third St. in Hazel

• North Calloway Elementary at 2928 Brinn Road in Murray

• Southwest Calloway Elementary at 3426 Wiswell Rd Murray

• Kirksey Baptist Church at 301 Backusburg Road in Kirksey

Calloway County Clerk Antonia Faulkner said a large turnout is not expected for the primary, so voters should not have to wait in line for long. However, she still encouraged people to vote as early as they can today to get the task out of the way before they head to work.

“It’s 6 to 6, and we do have additional workers,” Faulkner said. “We don't expect the lines we had in (the November 2022 general election), so I don’t want people to be discouraged by lines from the last election, but I don't want them to wait until the last minute. We have the extra workers and we have the extra vote center (compared to the last election), so with those two things, I definitely think it will help. I also don't expect the turnout to be near what it was last time.”

Faulkner said she once again wanted to remind all voters that Kentucky has a closed primary system, so you may only vote in the primary of the political party for which you are registered. The Republican and Democratic parties are holding primaries, but anyone registered as an Independent or a member of any other political party will not be eligible to vote today. Faulkner also encouraged people to go to the Calloway County Clerk website to study the ballot before the come to the voting center so they can get in and out as quickly as possible.

“People can go to vote.ky.gov to make sure they're registered and what party they're registered with,” Faulkner said. “Because it is a closed primary, we only have the two ballots, Democrat and Republican. They can look at those ballots on the County Clerk's Office web page, calloway.clerkinfo.net, and there is an ‘Election’ tab. When they click on that, there's a flyer that tells everything about it. Of course, they can also call our office at 270-753-3923 and we can tell them and walk them through everything before they actually get to the vote center.”

Candidates running for governor in the Republican primary include Daniel Cameron, Jacob Clark, David O. Cooper, Kelly Craft, Eric Deters, Bob Devore, Mike Harmon, Alan Keck, Dennis Ray Ormerod, Ryan Quarles, Johnny Ray Rice and Robbie C. Smith.

Candidates running for secretary of state in the Republican primary include incumbent Michael Adams, Stephen L. Knipper and Allen Maricle. Running for auditor of public accounts are Allison Ball and Derek Petteys. Running for state treasurer are Andrew Cooperrider, Mark H. Metcalf and O.C. “OJ” Oleka. Running for commissioner of agriculture are Richard Heath and Jonathan Shell.

In the Democratic primary for governor, Peppy Martin and Geoffrey M. "Geoff" Young are running against incumbent Andy Beshear. Democrats running for commissioner of agriculture include Sierra J. Enlow and Mikael Malone.