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Secretary of State Grimes announces Kentucky’s four veteran centers to become polling places


Honoring the service of Kentucky’s heroes and accomplishing one of her major goals as Kentucky’s chief elections official, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes announced Wednesday that the Commonwealth’s four state veterans centers will now serve as polling places in future elections.

Grimes

“We owe it all to Kentucky’s 304,000 military veterans for their service and sacrifice in preserving and protecting our precious freedoms, particularly the right to vote,” Grimes said. “Making sure these veterans – especially those in the care of our state’s veterans centers – can easily access the ballot box is the most fundamental way we can honor their service. I am extremely grateful to Brig. Gen. Adams, our veterans centers, and our local boards of elections for working with me to help make this a reality.”

This initiative to ensure veterans center residents can easily cast their ballots is made possible through the partnership of Grimes, the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, state veterans centers and local county boards of elections in Jessamine, Perry, Hopkins and Hardin Counties.

“We are thankful that the County Board of Elections and County Clerks in the four counties where our veteran’s homes are located have been able to designate those locations as polling locations for their respective precincts. This will allow all residents of the homes, who are eligible voters in that precinct, easy access to the fundamental right to cast their vote,” said Perry County Clerk Haven King.

The county clerks of Perry, Hopkins, and Hardin Counties were instrumental in this initiative.

The Hardin County Clerk’s Office is so glad to be a part of helping our veterans in another way. We are excited that we are going to be able to use the Carl M. Brashear’s Veterans Center in Radcliff as an election polling precinct next year. Our veterans that reside at the center as well as the families that live on post and are registered in Hardin County will be able to vote there.”

The Carl M. Brashear Veterans Center in Radcliff (provided photo).

The veterans centers will serve as the official polling place for the voting precinct where they are located. Kentucky’s four veterans centers are home to hundreds of veterans in long-term care, offering a broad range of nursing and medical care.

“Our military veterans have dutifully served their country and we owe them a great debt of gratitude for faithfully defending our freedoms. At the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs, we work every day to make sure our over 304,000 veterans and their families receive all the benefits and services they have earned,” said Brig. Gen. Benjamin F. Adams III, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Veterans Affairs. “We are particularly mindful that these veterans’ service and sacrifice has helped protect and enshrine the right to vote for all Americans, so we support any effort that enhances their access to polling locations so they can cast a ballot.”

As Secretary of State, Grimes has focused intently on veterans and military issues, including traveling to meeting with Kentucky troops in Afghanistan and championing a new law, the Military Heroes Voting Initiative, allowing more than 10,000 military and overseas voters to receive absentee ballots online. She also encourages Kentuckians to honor the service of veterans at the ballot box through her Vote in Honor of a Veteran program. Recently, she announced a new business program, Boots to Business, to support new veteran entrepreneurs.

Honor Flight Kentucky and the Kentucky Veterans Hall of Fame, two veterans organizations that recognize veterans for their service and continued contributions to Kentucky, praised Grimes’ announcement.

“Secretary Grimes continues to work for veterans and making the veterans centers polling places is a step to the future and a fantastic plan by her and for the veterans of Kentucky. She has always had the veterans first in her forward-thinking, and I will always thank her and respect her for that,” said H.B. Deatherage, executive director of the Kentucky Veterans Hall of Fame.

Establishing the Commonwealth’s veterans centers as polling locations is most appropriate,” said Phillip Pittman, organizer of Honor Flight Kentucky. “Throughout the history of our great nation, it has been the veteran who sacrificed greatly to protect our freedoms and values, not the least of which is the right to vote. The significance of voting at one of these four facilities should be an inspiration to all Kentuckians as they exercise this solemn responsibility.”

Paul E. Patton Eastern Kentucky Veterans Center administrator Neil Napier said he looks forward to opening the center as a polling place for veterans and nearby voters on Election Days.

“We are excited about the opportunity to have our facility serve as a polling site during future elections. Our residents take pride in voting, a right that many of them fought for, so the added convenience for them is wonderful. Additionally, this will stimulate interaction with our community, and allow more individuals to see what a beautiful place we have for our veterans, right here in the mountains,” Napier said.

Office of the Secretary of State


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