Owen County Clerk, Board of Elections announce new ‘voting centers’

OWENTON – Following the approval of House Bill 574, Owen County voters may choose from one of six locations known as “voting centers” to cast their ballots in the 2022 elections.

The voting centers will permanently take the place of the 12 formerly used precinct polling places. They will be located at Owen Electric Cooperative, the Owen County Extension Office, Dallasburg Baptist Church, Hesler Assembly of God, New Columbus Baptist Church, and the Monterey Volunteer Fire Department.

The move will allow registered voters to choose from any of the six centers to cast their ballot, regardless of the precinct in which they reside.

“We tried to spread the six locations out across the county so those traveling to Frankfort, Ghent, Georgetown, and other areas for work could easily stop in and vote,” said Owen County Clerk Laurel P. Stivers. “The voting centers will not change or effect your precinct or magisterial district, but instead allow you to choose where you vote."

HB 574 is the largest election reform bill for Kentucky since 1891 and makes significant changes to the way Kentuckians vote, including:

• Creating three days of early in-person voting, including a Saturday, with no excuse required

• Enhancing the ability of state election officials to remove nonresident voters from the voter rolls

• Transitioning toward universal paper ballots, statewide

• Keeping the online voter portal so absentee balloting is fully transparent both to voters and election officials

• Expressly prohibiting and penalizing ballot harvesting

• Retaining the signature cure process, so absentee voters whose signatures have changed over time have a chance to prove identity and have their ballots counted.

Registered voters will receive a postcard in the mail reminding them of the newly established voting centers prior to the 2022 Primary Election.