WBKO - Politics - Headlines

Homeless Voting Controversy

By: Caitlin Coffey Email
Updated: Fri 4:19 AM, Jul 15, 2011

A United State citizenship, a social security number, and an address are just a few things people are required to produce when registering to vote.

But what about homeless people?

An ethics complaint has been filed by Republican Secretary of State nominee, Bill Johnson, saying that Secretary of State Elaine Walker and the State Board of Elections are violating the State constitution by registering homeless voters without an address.

Secretary of State Elaine Walker says constitutionally Kentucky cannot deny people of their right to register to vote, even if they are homeless.

She says the amount of homeless people registering is actually low.

"In Grayson County, the clerk told me in her time of office she had only registered 8 people, and of those 8 people only one person voted," Walker says.

However, many people are worried about voter fraud.

"There has been no record of fraudulent voting from homeless registering to vote," she states.

Walker says most voter fraud comes from absentee voting.

Secretary of State says the bigger issue is actually getting people who have registered to the polls on election day.

"During the primary elections 89.7 percent of the people registered did not vote," she admits.

Walker adds allowing homeless people to register is not a new law but has been in the law books for decades.

For more information on voting regulations visit the link listed below.


WBKO.com is happy to provide a forum for commenting and discussion. Please respect and abide by the house rules:

Keep it clean, keep it civil, keep it truthful, stay on topic, be responsible, no links, share your knowledge, and please suggest removal of comments that violate these standards.

powered by Disqus

Political Links

Kentucky Votes
Kentucky's Legislature at your fingertips. Search through this session's legislation, check your legislator's voting record, or even stay updated by email as bills move through the legislature.

Federal Election Commission
The governing body for all elections in the United States.

Project Vote Smart
Non-profit/non-partisan group that details how congressmen vote on bills and public statements they make on issues.

Open Secrets
A non-profit/non-partisan group that crunch campaign contribution information to find out who is contributing to what campaigns.

The Institute on Money in State Politics
Find out who is contributing to campaigns for state offices.

The Center for Public Integrity
Find out more about private organizations that are contributing local campaigns.

The Pew Research Center
Opinion polls from all sources in one place.

FactCheck.org
Checks the information provided in political ads.

Congress.org
Get detailed information on your elected federal, state and local officials.

GovTrack
Keep track of federal officials, how they're voting and what they're up to.

Electionline
A reference guide to election laws and regulations.

Politics1
News, links and information on all things political.

WBKO 2727 Russellville Road Bowling Green, KY 42101-3976 Phone: 270-781-1313 After Hours Hotline: 270-781-6397 Fax: 270-781-1814
Gray Television, Inc. - Copyright © 2002-2013 - Designed by Gray Digital Media - Powered by Clickability
User Agent: CCBot/2.0 - 125589673