Kentucky is latest battleground for secretaries of state facing election falsehoods during primaries

May 12, 2023, 11:36 AM

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams speaks to the moderator before an interview in Lexington,...

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams speaks to the moderator before an interview in Lexington, Ky., Monday, May 8, 2023. Adams still doesn't have a clear path for reelection despite winning bipartisan praise during his first term in office and expanding voter access during the COVID-19 pandemic. He now must persuade Republican primary voters who have been bombarded for years with false claims about rigged elections. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s secretary of state has won bipartisan praise during his first term in office for expanding voter access during the COVID-19 pandemic and overseeing elections that have been free of widespread problems.

That record still hasn’t paved a clear path to reelection for Republican Michael Adams. He now must persuade primary voters who have been bombarded for years with rigged elections.

He faces one challenger in Tuesday’s GOP primary who has promoted debunked election claims and another who favors pulling Kentucky out of a multistate effort designed to detect voter fraud, an effort being pushed by conspiracy theorists in conservative states.

The battle for Kentucky’s top elections post follows similar campaigns during last year’s midterm elections, when candidates who denied the results of the 2020 election won GOP primaries in numerous states. each of those candidates lost in the closely contested swing states that typically decide presidential elections.

Adams, a lawyer, soundly defeated Steve Knipper in the primary four years ago. Knipper, who has questioned the result of the 2020 presidential election, is back for another run along with another Republican, Allen Maricle, a former state representative and television station executive. The winner will face Democrat Buddy Wheatley, a former state representative who recently lost reelection. He is unopposed in his primary.

Adams earned praise from both parties for false allegations after the 2020 presidential race.

“This job has gotten a lot more high-profile than it used to be,” Adams said. “And I think the big question in this election is, which direction are we going to go in?”

Adams, 47, has had harsh words for election skeptics, calling them “cranks and kooks” who shouldn’t be in charge of Kentucky’s election process.

State and local election officials continue to grapple with the fallout from former President Donald Trump’s harassment and death threats against election officials and their staff.

rejected his claims.

Knipper, 52, won the GOP nomination for secretary of state in 2015 before losing to Democratic incumbent Alison Grimes in the general election. The former city council member from a small town across the Ohio River from Cincinnati was a staffer under former Lt. Gov. Jenean Hampton, but was fired by former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.

Knipper and a former colleague of his in the lieutenant governor’s office who also was swept out by Bevin, Adrienne Southworth, have been touring the state together alleging — without evidence — election fraud in the 2019 governor’s race won by Democrat Andy Beshear and in the 2020 presidential election.

Knipper said he has raised more money and enjoyed more support from the public than during his previous two races, and is running television ads for the first time.

“I’ve had enthusiasm, but I have never had this much enthusiasm behind me,” he said.

Maricle has campaigned on his experience in the Kentucky Legislature, saying he is the only candidate who has a voting record on election legislation. That includes support for a bill in the 1990s that allowed voters who were in line at the time of poll closings to remain in line and finish voting.

Maricle, 60, is critical of Knipper’s election skepticism, saying Knipper has provided no evidence.

“He’s said these elections have been stolen through the machines — prove it,” Maricle said.

But Maricle also has campaigned on moving the state out of a multistate system intended to combat voter fraud. He said he is taking a cue from other Republican secretaries of state critical of it and said it is not doing a good enough job helping states clear their voter rolls.

“It’s flawed,” he said. “You have nine Republican states in the last 90 days do away with that system.”

Knipper has also sought to capitalize on the issue, which has divided Republican state election officials. In a March release, he urged supporters to call on Adams to withdraw Kentucky from the bipartisan effort, which has found itself in the crosshairs of conspiracy theories fueled by Trump’s false claims.

In the release, Knipper repeated claims that the Electronic Registration Information Center, a voluntary system known as ERIC, was funded by George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist who has long been the subject of conspiracy theories. While ERIC received initial funding from the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts, that money was separate from the money provided to Pew by a Soros-affiliated organization that went to an unrelated effort, according to ERIC’s executive director, Shane Hamlin.

Knipper’s stance on the ERIC system won him the vote of Dae Combs, a 63-year-old Louisville resident who visited an early voting location on Thursday.

“I’m just concerned that it would be easily manipulated,” Combs said. “I’m not saying that’s what happened, but I just think there needs to be more investigation into it.”

Combs said she doesn’t question the results of the 2020 election despite her support of Knipper.

Biden “is our president and we kind of go with the system. This is our system, it’s the best system in the world, but I do think there is room to look at things and not just take things at face value.”

Louisiana has left a group of states using the ERIC system after a series of online posts early last year questioning its funding and purpose. Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia subsequently provided notice that they, too, would leave. Texas has said it’s working on an alternative effort and is unlikely to stay. Kentucky is among six Republican-led states that have so far remained.

Judy Davenport, who was voting in Louisville on her 62nd birthday, said her vote for Adams was influenced by Knipper’s election skepticsm.

“I’m not an election denier,” she said.

___

Cassidy reported from Atlanta.

___

Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

United States News

File - Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses the Apple Watch at the Apple event at the Bill Graham Civic Aud...

Associated Press

Apple is expected to unveil sleek headset aimed at thrusting the masses into alternate realities

Apple appears poised to unveil a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter’s ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public’s imagination. After years of speculation, the stage is set for the widely anticipated announcement to be made Monday […]

6 hours ago

FILE - A person, reflected in glass, walks near the Tropicana Las Vegas on May 16, 2023, in Las Veg...

Associated Press

Las Vegas ballpark pitch revives debate over public funding for sports stadiums

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Gov. Joe Lombardo wants to help build Major League Baseball’s smallest ballpark, arguing that the worst team in baseball can boost Las Vegas, a city striving to call itself a sports mecca. Debate about public funding for private sports clubs has been revived with the Oakland Athletics ballpark proposal. The […]

1 day ago

FILE - Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., speaks at an ...

Associated Press

Carter and the Kings: A friendship and alliance — but after MLK’s assassination

ATLANTA (AP) — The voice of Martin Luther King Sr., a melodic tenor like his slain son, carried across Madison Square Garden, calming the raucous Democrats who had nominated his friend and fellow Georgian for the presidency. “Surely, the Lord sent Jimmy Carter to come on out and bring America back where she belongs,” the […]

1 day ago

Last seasons plant stalks are seen at Seth Jacobs' marijuana planting field at his Slack Hollow far...

Associated Press

Slow start to New York’s legal pot market leaves farmers holding the bag

ARGYLE, N.Y. (AP) — Seth Jacobs has about 100 bins packed with marijuana flower sitting in storage at his upstate New York farm. And that’s a problem. There aren’t enough places to sell it. The 700 pounds (318 kilograms) of pungent flower was harvested last year as part of New York’s first crop of legally […]

1 day ago

FILE - Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions con...

Associated Press

Wisconsin Republicans look for rebound, Democrats stay on offensive as 2024 fights loom

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin once again be a battleground. Democrats, recognizing that four of the past six presidential elections in the state have been decided by less than a percentage point, are trying not to become overconfident in the face of recent gains. They are gathering for their annual state convention starting June 10 […]

1 day ago

Associated Press

Michigan wildfire prompts evacuations, threatens multiple buildings

GRAYLING TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A wildfire in Michigan burned more than 1,000 acres (1.5 square miles) and prompted emergency evacuations and road closures Saturday, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. The wildfire located within Grayling Township, about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Grayling, is moving west and southwest and threatens multiple […]

1 day ago

Sponsored Articles

...

SANDERSON FORD

Thank you to Al McCoy for 51 years as voice of the Phoenix Suns

Sanderson Ford wants to share its thanks to Al McCoy for the impact he made in the Valley for more than a half-decade.

...

OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

How to identify the symptoms of 3 common anxiety disorders

Living with an anxiety disorder can be debilitating and cause significant stress for those who suffer from the condition.

(Photo by Michael Matthey/picture alliance via Getty Images)...

Cox Communications

Valley Boys & Girls Club uses esports to help kids make healthy choices

KTAR’s Community Spotlight focuses on the Boys & Girls Club of the Valley and the work to incorporate esports into children's lives.

Kentucky is latest battleground for secretaries of state facing election falsehoods during primaries