General Election Ballot For 2022: All Races and Amendments

Darren Doyle, story:
The 2022 General Election Ballot has been released and contains both local and state races, U.S. Senator and Congress, plus the addition of voting on two state constitutional amendments.

While Constitutional Amendment #1 is lengthy, the main difference if it passes will allow both the Governor and the General Assembly to determine when the legislature meets outside of normal meeting dates and times, not just the Governor as it stands now. Currently, the General Assembly meets for 30 days in odd-numbered years and 60 days in even-numbered years and is must end by certain dates in the spring. If the General Assembly needs to meet for a longer period or later in the year, only the Governor can convene a special session and the Governor alone decides for what purposes. A vote for "no" would continue the current law.

Should Constitutional Amendment #2 pass, it would add specific language that would establish that Kentucky’s Constitution does not provide a right to abortion or require the public funding of abortion. If passed, it would not ban abortion in Kentucky but allow those decisions to be made by the elected officials of the General Assembly, same as it is now. The amendment only adds the specific language about the right and public funding of abortions.

In the national races, Republican incumbent Rand Paul will face Democratic candidate Charles Booker for U.S. Senate and Republican incumbent Brett Guthrie is being challenged by Democratic candidate Hank Linderman for U.S. Representative.

State Rep. Michael Meredith is running unopposed in this year's race.

In local races, most are uncontested with only four out of fourteen races with challengers. Challenged races include:

• Edmonson County Judge-Executive: Ronald Scott Lindsey (R) and Gregory Hudson (D)
• District 2 Magistrate: T.J. Massey (R) and Joe Durbin (D)
• District 3 Magistrate: Anthony Hennion (R) and Incumbent Charlie Tarter (D)
• District 5 Magistrate: Gary Bagshaw (R) and Steve Sanders (D)

Those that choose to vote straight ticket will still have to manually vote for non-partisan and write-in candidates should they want their vote to count in those races. There are several judicial races, all of which are non-partisan with some being write-in. Contrary to popular belief, write-in candidates must have filed to run as such. Random names not filed to run are not recognized. Currently, there is only one candidate eligible for write-in for the District Judge 38th Judicial District First Division, which is Greg Vincent. 

Additionally, there is one uncontested race where the candidate recently withdrew. J.C. Daugherty is still on the ballot for District 3 Constable: however, he has withdrawn from the race and his father, Joe Carl Daugherty has filed to run as a write-in candidate. He is currently the only eligible write-in candidate.

Other contested judicial races are:

• Kentucky Supreme Court District 2: Kelly Thompson Jr. and Shawn Marie Alcott
• Court of Appeals, second appellate first division: Jeff S. Taylor and David J. Clement
• Circuit Judge, 8th circuit division 5: Dennie Hardin and J.B. Hines

The final two contested races (both non-partisan) are for Board of Education seats and Brownsville City Council members.

In the Board of Education District 3 race, three candidates are on the ballot that include Melinda Campbell, Scarlett Roney, and Ashley Blanton Wilkerson. This race is only for voters in District 3, which includes Rocky Hill, part of Cedar Springs, and Edmonson County Middle School location voters.

Mark Rich has filed to run as a write-in for Board of Education District 4.

The last contested race on the ballot is for Brownsville City Council. There are eight candidates on the ballot where the top six vote getters will be placed on the council. They include Erin R. Milton, John D. Chidester, David Campbell, Anthony "Slug" Duvall, Lloyd T. Blanton, Justin D. Meredith, Ricky Simon, and Melinda VanMeter.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th. All polling places will be open in-person from 6AM to 6PM.

Excused early voting will be available Weds-Friday October 26th-28th at the County Clerk's Office during normal business hours. Early voting will be available on Thurs-Saturday, November 3rd-5th.