Livingston County to Offer Drive-Thru Voting

Drive-thru and curbside service have become increasingly popular at businesses lately due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a local county clerk has decided to offer the same safety and convenience to voters in Tuesday's Primary Election. 

Livingston County Clerk Sonya Williams says after brainstorming about how best to protect voters and staff, her office decided to let voters cast ballots from their cars. Williams says the process will be different from what residents are used to, but it should be familiar to anyone who has used a three-stop drive-thru at a restaurant to pick up their favorite quick meal.

"You'll pull up and check in. A form of ID is required. The second stop will be where you receive your ballot and an ink pen that you get to keep. The voter will remain in their vehicle, cast their ballot, and then they'll pull up a whole car length and the voting machine will be at the last stop. The voter will slide their ballot in the machine and then drive off." She said, adding that she estimates the entire voting process should take less than two minutes.

Although the law only requires one polling location to be open in each county for Tuesday's election, Livingston County will have two. One will be located at North Livingston Elementary school at 1372 US Highway 60. The other will be at South Livingston Elementary, located at 850 Cuttoff Road.

Williams says two polling locations were chosen due to the unique geography of the county.

"In our county, though we're small in number, we are large geographically. We felt like it did not make sense to only have one polling location, because our county is literally separated by the Cumberland River. We did not want to put one polling location on one side of the river and make the other side of the river angry." She said.

In addition to the new drive-thru configuration, Williams says there will be walk-up voting booths set up in plain view for anyone who can't vote from their vehicle. There will also be large signs posted that make it easy for drivers to see exactly where to go once they arrive, and the Livingston County Sheriff's Office will direct traffic.

Williams acknowledged there is an element of risk involved in trying something new, but she said a tremendous amount of care has been taken to ensure the election goes as smoothly and safely as possible. She says she hopes things go well enough to make drive-thru voting a viable option in future elections. 

"I don't like to fail. I take it personally whenever something fails. We're either gonna be the trend setters in western Kentucky, or we're gonna fail miserably." She said.

Polls are open Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.