Coleman welcomed reporters to his Election Integrity Command Center, which works to uphold the integrity of Kentucky’s elections. While the Election Fraud Hotline, 800-328-VOTE, is open year-round, calls are received here on Election Day.
The Office of the Attorney General operates the Hotline, and answers calls on Election Day from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET. That includes members of the Special Prosecutions Division, including eight prosecutors, plus members of the Department of Criminal Investigations.
As of 4 p.m. Monday, the Hotline received 357 complaints of potential election law violations. From 6 a.m. through noon on Election Day itself, 214 complaints were received from 44 counties.
“This is an effort to support Kentuckians as they go to the polls to exercise their most fundamental right,” Coleman said. “What you see behind me, both electronically and on the old telephone, is our team responding to our Election Fraud Hotline. This is a mechanism for Kentuckians to report suspected election law violations.”
Adams described the issue which kept Jefferson County voters from being able to cast ballots when the polls first opened. “They didn’t allow long enough for the E-Poll books to process all those who had already voted. As a security measure, to prevent double voting, the poll workers have to turn these on and allow a download so every poll book in the county will know who’s voted already.”
The issue led the Kentucky Democratic Party to file a motion to extend voting hours there, according to party spokesman Jonathan Levin.
“After receiving numerous reports of technical issues causing severe delays and infringing on Kentuckians’ constitutional right to vote, we immediately filed a motion to request that the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office extend polling hours until 8 p.m. ET. We will use all legal means necessary to ensure that every single Kentuckian eligible to vote has the ability to do so.”
According to Adams, of the more than 3.4 million registered voters in the state, around 740,000 Kentuckians took advantage of early voting, excused absentee voting and mail-in or drop off voting, all of which occurred prior to Election Day.
Attorney General Russell Coleman with reporters in the Election Integrity Command Center on Tuesday. (Kentucky Today/Tom Latek)
