For the past two decades, Melinda Humphries has been Christian County’s trusted election coordinator — maintaining order in the chaos.
Now, heading into the November 7 general election, she’s clerk — which brings with it more electoral responsibility to Hopkinsville and the state’s second largest county.
During a Tuesday visit with the Hopkinsville Rotary Club, Humphries gave related insight and information for prospective voters, and urged everyone reverse trends and share their voice.
The reason, she said, is because state races don’t typically draw people out to the polls. Only presidential and local elections do.
While the deadline to register as a voter has already come and gone, the deadline for requesting an at-home absentee ballot is 11:59 PM Tuesday, and alongside other services can be done online at govote.ky.gov.
From there, she said in-person absentee voting starts 8 AM until 4 PM Wednesday, runs through Friday, and is available again next Monday-Wednesday. It comes with caveats and qualifying excuses, like work schedules, military service, vacations, expected pregnancies and such.
Then comes early voting — which runs from 8 AM until 4 PM November 2-4 at the Bruce Convention Center, Walnut Street Center and Senior Citizen’s Center.
On Election Day from 6 AM until 6 PM, 10 more places will be open to the public for a total of 13, including: Sinking Fork Baptist Church, Christian County Courthouse, Pembroke Baptist Church, Crofton City Hall, Oak Grove Community Center, South Christian Elementary, Indian Hills Elementary, New Barren Springs Church, New Palestine Baptist Church and Hopkinsville Middle School.
Asked about the removal of Friendship House Hopkinsville as a polling place, Humphries noted the pivoting of machines to highly-commuted routes like Indian Hills played a role, but one other factor changed the landscape.
The deadline for election workers has passed, but Humphries confirmed Christian County “pays well,” $10 for the training night and another $290 on Election Day alone.
What needs to be understood is that as of Tuesday afternoon, and according to Humphries, Christian County has no eligible write-in candidates available on the ballot for two local races: Commonwealth’s Attorney and Christian County Public Schools Board Member for District 4.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Bolen is not an option on the ballot, and those who choose to write her in on November 7 will not have their votes counted unless she meets the write-in filing deadline of October 27, this Friday, to reverse the course.
Voters in District 4 will have the choice to vote for Rebecca Pepper to finish her unexpired term with the CCPS board through 2024, following her appointment as replacement for Michael Walker.
Furthermore, Tiffany Mumford-Brame’s recent resignation from the Christian County Public School Board will not be addressed in this election cycle.
Instead, Humphries said CCPS officials and their panel will be able to appoint a compliant, fitting candidate before 2024.
