- Video captured the emotional moment when voters in Kentucky were let into the only polling place in Jefferson County. It had initially closed but was then briefly reopened due to a judge's order.
- Polls at the Kentucky Exposition Center closed at 6 p.m. local time, but voters were still in line.
- Democratic Senate candidate Charles Booker filed an injunction, and a judge granted it to allow the specific polling place in Jefferson County to remain open till 6:30 p.m. local time.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Voters in Jefferson County, Kentucky, poured into the county's only polling place after a judge ordered the polling location to allow those who made it inside by 6:30 p.m. to vote.
They’re in! pic.twitter.com/dyPlGabrIy
— Joe Sonka 😐 (@joesonka) June 23, 2020
In the video posted by Courier-Journal reporter Joe Sonka, a woman and her daughter, who she says is voting for the first time, got emotional after having to wait outside and bang on the doors to be let in to vote.
"We shouldn't have to go through this," the woman said.
The scene right outside the locked doors in Louisville: pic.twitter.com/qvMTbe5f7Z
— Joe Sonka 😐 (@joesonka) June 23, 2020
Sonka shared a video earlier in the evening of more than 50 people waiting outside the Kentucky Exposition Center upset they were not allowed to enter.
Democratic Senate candidate Charles Booker filed an emergency injunction and the judge ruled to have the polling place opened until 6:30 p.m. local time.
According to the Courier-Journal, the Center opened at 6 a.m. local time, and lines moved fairly quickly, but there were still people waiting to get in when the polling place closed at 6 p.m. local time.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of thousands of voters in the state are casting absentee ballots. According to The Mercury News, Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams and Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, agreed on the wide-spread use of absentee ballots.
However, not all voters selected absentee ballots. Adams told the outlet prior to election day that he was "cautiously optimistic" that voters in Louisville wouldn't have to wait in long lines at the only polling place for all of Jefferson County.
Jefferson County elected to have one polling location with multiple voting lines, and hundreds of voting booths in one large location to allow plenty of people to vote while maintaining social distancing, as opposed to multiple smaller locations that would not be as effective for social distancing.
One voter, Don Hardison, told the Courier-Journal that he drove 45 minutes to vote. He was left outside when the poll initially closed.
"It's our constitutional right that is being infringed on right now," he said. "I think it's disingenuous at best that this is the only polling place in Jefferson County."
"It's not (a) coincidence that this is a large urban population," he added.
People rushing in and being told to get into any line before 6 pm. pic.twitter.com/eWjsM9Sfk1
— Matt Mencarini (@MattMencarini) June 23, 2020
The Jefferson County Clerk's office spokesman Nore Ghibaudy told the outlet that voters had to be inside the Expo Center by 6 p.m. local time to vote. A few minutes before the doors were set to close, Booker filed an injunction to keep the center open till 9 p.m. for voters.
"The wait line to get in the parking lot is a half-hour or more," a spokesman for Booker told the Journal.
Shortly after the doors closed, Booker called on people still in line to remain there as a judge reviewed the injunction.
"Let us in," people chanted outside the convention center.
STAY IN LINE! A judge is reviewing the situation.
— Charles Booker (@Booker4KY) June 23, 2020
STAY IN LINE.
Doors reopened around 6:25 p.m. local time after Jefferson County Circuit Judge Annie O'Connell granted Bookers' injunction but they closed again at 6:30 p.m. local time.
The order, which was handwritten, denied the request to allow the poll to stay open to 9:00 p.m., but said those who "were present inside the doors of the Expo Center no later than 6:30 pm shall be permitted to vote to accommodate those who were present at the Expo Center."
Here’s a copy of the handwritten order keeping polls open until 6:30 p.m. for voters in line at the @kyexpocenter.
— Darcy Costello (@dctello) June 24, 2020
More on @Booker4KY’s injunction: https://t.co/ay1VChtAej pic.twitter.com/G73bbQPXYp
Afterward at 6:45 p.m., Democratic Senate candidate Amy McGrath also filed an injunction to have the polls reopened.
Everyone in line should be able to vote. We're also filing an injunction to keep the polls open in Jefferson County. Stay in line.
— Amy McGrath (@AmyMcGrathKY) June 23, 2020
The Journal reported that by 7:15 p.m., the polling place was being dismantled as over 15 people showed up to vote but were not let in.
Kentucky is one of a few states to host a primary election on June 23. Voters in the state are selecting a Democratic nominee to run against GOP Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Business Insider's Grace Panetta reported.
McGrath a former fighter pilot and 2018 House candidate backed by the US Senate Democrats' campaign arm and Booker, a State Representative are competing for the nomination, but results in Jefferson County, one of the largest in the state won't be called till June 30.
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