Introduction to Your Voting Rights
You probably know that when you turn 18 you’re finally allowed to vote, but do you know how important your vote is? Do you know how to register? Do you know what the difference is between the Primary Election and the General election? Here’s the place to find out!
PRIMARY ELECTION vs GENERAL ELECTION
Okay, so just what is the difference between these two elections? For starters, in Kentucky the primary election is always held on the first Tuesday after the fourth Monday in May. So this year, the primary election (primaries) will be held May 25th. The general election is always held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. This year’s general election will be held November 2nd.
The primary election is the election to select candidates to run for public office. Each party can only have one representative running for a public office, so the primaries is when everyone votes on which one person should run for office. Most primary elections are partisan which means that you can only vote for those people affiliated with the same party you’re affiliated with. For instance, if you’re a registered Republican, then you can vote for one Republican nominee for each office, but you cannot vote for any Democrats. In Kentucky, only Republicans and Democrats can vote in this election.
General elections are where you can vote for whomever you want in a specific public office. The general election is usually nonpartisan, which means you can vote for any one person for an office regardless of party affiliation. So if you’re a registered Democrat, but you want to vote for the person nominated by the Green Party, you can.
WHO CAN VOTE & HOW DO YOU SIGN UP?
Kentucky State law has very strict guidelines about who can vote. In order to register to vote you:
- Must be a U.S. citizen and a Kentucky resident for at least 28 days
- Must be 18 years of age by the date of the next general election (the one in November)
- Cannot be a convicted felon (talk with your county clerk’s office for more details)
- Must not have been judged mentally incompetent in a court of law, and
- Must not claim the right to vote outside the State of Kentucky.
You will be able to vote in the primary election if you will be 18 before the general election.
To register to vote, visit your county clerk’s office. If you’re not sure where this is, visit www.kysos.com and click on “County Clerk’s office” to find out.
WHY IS MY VOTE SO IMPORTANT?
That’s the best way to get your voice heard and make your opinion matter! Most of us were born with the freedom and the right to vote, but that wasn’t always the case. Women make up the majority of the voters in the U.S., but didn’t win the right to vote until 1920. African Americans won the right to vote in 1870, but weren’t guaranteed that right until 1965. Bilingual ballots for people speaking English as a second language was not a “right” until 1975. Many people before us had to fight for what most of us take for granted as a right, and in many other places, voting still isn’t a right.
Every individual counts. In the last presidential election, then Vice President Gore lost Kentucky to President Bush by a mere 233,594 votes, out of 2,576,931 registered voters in Kentucky. This was an incredibly small margin, meaning more people realize how important it is to make their voices heard!
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