Who’s on Clark County’s ballot this Election Day?

Nearly 4,200 Clark County vot­ers have already cast their bal­lots dur­ing ear­ly vot­ing, and hun­dreds more mail-in bal­lots and excused absen­tee votes have been recorded. 

But Tuesday, Nov. 3, will be deci­sive for the 2026 local, state leg­isla­tive, and con­gres­sion­al midterms. Polls are open in the county’s 26 precincts and at the Clark County Courthouse from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Election Day. 

A reg­is­tered vot­er must have a valid pho­to ID, such as a driver’s license, pass­port, or uni­ver­si­ty stu­dent or mil­i­tary ID to be allowed to vote. Check the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion require­ments at elect.ky.gov to see which forms of iden­ti­fi­ca­tion are accepted.

According to the state Board of Elections October report, 29,148 res­i­dents of the coun­ty are reg­is­tered to vote in Clark County. Registered Republicans out­num­ber reg­is­tered Democrats by more than 2,200 and vot­ers reg­is­tered in oth­er cat­e­gories by more than 12,000. But par­ty affil­i­a­tion doesn’t mat­ter in gen­er­al elec­tions, as vot­ers can vote for any­one on their ballot. 

U.S. House and Senate 

Voter reg­is­tra­tion and turnout have both been high because of the bat­tle for con­trol of Congress. Most polling shows that Democrats are like­ly to flip the U.S. House, but until clos­er to the elec­tion, they were giv­en lit­tle chance of win­ning the Senate. 

Now sur­veys show that con­trol of the Senate, too, could change. 

President Donald J. Trump’s unpop­u­lar­i­ty and con­cerns about the econ­o­my, health care, and the war in Iran are some of the biggest issues. Republicans cur­rent­ly have 53 of the 100 seats in the Senate. Democrats would need to flip four to take the major­i­ty. According to The New York Times, Democrats have the edge in six of sev­en bat­tle­ground states, includ­ing red states like Kansas and Texas. 

In Kentucky, the con­test for for­mer Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s seat is between Republican Andy Barr, the 6^th District con­gress­man, and Democrat Charles Booker, a for­mer state rep­re­sen­ta­tive from Louisville. 

The Cook Political Report in October had the Kentucky Senate con­test list­ed as “sol­id Republican,” but polls are often wrong. 

McConnell is retir­ing at the end of this year after more than four decades as Kentucky’s longest-serv­ing United States senator. 

The 6^th District U.S. House race to fill the vacan­cy cre­at­ed by Barr’s run for the Senate is com­pet­i­tive for the first time since 2012, when Barr unseat­ed the last Democratic incum­bent. Cook has the race list­ed as a “toss up,” but most polls have shown Democrat Zach Dembo, a for­mer fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor from Lexington, slight­ly ahead of the Republican, Dr. Ralph Alvarado of Winchester, a physi­cian and for­mer state senator. 

There are also minor can­di­dates on the bal­lot for the con­gres­sion­al races: Kentucky Party nom­i­nees Christopher Campbell for Senate and Peter Lynch for the 6^th House District, and inde­pen­dent Jay J. Bowman for the 6^th. 

State legislature 

There is an open seat this year for the 73^rd District in the Kentucky House of Representatives, because the incum­bent, Republican Ryan Dotson, chose to run for Congress and lost to Alvarado in the primary. 

The Republican can­di­date is Daniel Konstantopoulos, who is cur­rent­ly a mag­is­trate on the Clark County Fiscal Court. He is opposed by Democrat Chelsea Kirk of Lexington. The dis­trict includes all of Clark County and a small part of east­ern Fayette County. 

Republican state Sen. Greg Elkins of Winchester is unop­posed in his re-elec­tion to the Senate. 

County government 

The open race for coun­ty judge-exec­u­tive, the coun­ty government’s chief exec­u­tive offi­cer, is between Democrat Vaché King, a pro­gram man­ag­er for a glob­al infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy com­pa­ny, and Republican Justin Charles, a mas­ter electrician. 

The two ran against each oth­er for the Democratic nom­i­na­tion four years ago, but Charles decid­ed this time to run as a Republican. 

Only one magistrate’s seat on the Clark County Fiscal Court is con­test­ed in the gen­er­al elec­tion, that for District 1. Democrat Jeannie Hall Gwynne, a 911 dis­patch­er, and Republican Scott Hisle, a com­pa­ny chief finan­cial offi­cer and for­mer school board mem­ber, are vying for the seat being vacat­ed by Konstantopoulos. 

The Fiscal Court can­di­dates unop­posed on the bal­lot are Bryan Howard in District 2, Benjamin Moberly in District 3, incum­bent Mark Darryl Miller in District 4, and Michael H. Flynn in District 5, all Republicans, and incum­bent Robert G. Blanton in District 6, the court’s lone Democrat. 

The can­di­dates for coun­ty con­sta­ble, who run in mag­is­te­r­i­al dis­tricts, are also all unop­posed. They are Republicans Travis Jay McIntosh in District 2, Shelby Lynn Toler II in District 3, and William Frank Kennon in District 6. Although their names won’t be on the bal­lot, there are also write-in can­di­dates for District 4, Gerald Tackett, and District 5, David Puckett. No one is run­ning in District 1. 

One of the most com­pet­i­tive coun­ty races on the bal­lot is that for prop­er­ty val­u­a­tion administrator. 

Democrat Jason Neely is chal­leng­ing incum­bent Republican Jada Brady, who defeat­ed him by only a few votes in 2022. Neely is seek­ing to regain the office.

Another coun­ty office that is com­pet­i­tive is that of jail­er. The incum­bent, Democrat Frank “Squatty” Doyle, is being chal­lenged by Republican Chris Grant, a busi­ness­man. Both are for­mer police officers. 

County Attorney William Elkins, Sheriff Berl Perdue Jr., and Coroner Neal Oliver, all Republicans, are unop­posed, as is County Clerk Michelle Turner, a Democrat. 

No one is run­ning this year for coun­ty surveyor. 

All three can­di­dates for the non­par­ti­san Clark County Soil and Water Conservation District are unop­posed on the bal­lot. They are Greg McCord, Joyce Pasley, and Harold David Rupard. 

City government 

Winchester Mayor JoEllen Reed is being chal­lenged for re-elec­tion this year by Dr. Perry Williams in the non­par­ti­san race for mayor. 

Voters may choose from among eight can­di­dates for the four seats on the non­par­ti­san Winchester Board of Commissioners. 

However, votes for incum­bent Hannah Toole won’t be count­ed because she has resigned from the board and with­drawn from the race fol­low­ing her appoint­ment as tourism com­mis­sion director. 

The can­di­dates who are run­ning are incum­bents Kitty W. Strode and Joe Lee Chenault, and for­mer Commissioner Kenny Book, as well as Ralph Harrison, James Bowman, Tara Asbury, and Jim Caldwell. 

The can­di­dates run at large, and the top four vote-get­ters will be declared the winners. 

Judicial contests 

There are two com­pet­i­tive, non­par­ti­san judi­cial con­tests on the ballot. 

For judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals 5^th District, 1^st Division, the can­di­dates are the appoint­ed incum­bent, Appellate Judge Will Moynahan of Lexington, who is also a for­mer fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tor, and Fayette Circuit Court Judge Lucy Ferguson VanMeter of Lexington, whose hus­band, Laurance B. VanMeter, is a for­mer chief jus­tice of the Kentucky Supreme Court. 

In the race for the 25^th Judicial District, Division 1, the appoint­ed incum­bent, Chief District Judge Tyler S. Frazier of Richmond, is defend­ing his seat against Winchester attor­ney Darrian D. Botts, also a Richmond resident. 

The Division 2 and 3 seats are also on the bal­lot, but the incum­bents are unop­posed. They are Judge Robert Jennings in the 2^nd Division and Judge Earl-Ray Neal in the 3^rd. 

Board of Education 

Only one seat on the Clark County Board of Education, that for District 4, is com­pet­i­tive this year, and only one can­di­date for that dis­trict, Ben Dorsey, is named on the bal­lot. However, there are two write-in can­di­dates, Valerie Frost and Katie Brashear Jones. 

Poll work­ers can tell vot­ers who the write-in can­di­dates are if they ask, but they can­not give them any­thing with the write-in can­di­dates’ names on it to take into the polling room with them. Voters will have to know the spelling before they go to vote. 

Dorsey is cur­rent­ly under indict­ment by a Clark County grand jury for alleged felony theft along with anoth­er school board mem­ber, Ashley Ritchie-Rowland, in a case involv­ing alleged mis­ap­pro­pri­a­tion of funds from a youth soc­cer league. An indict­ment is not a con­vic­tion, and the accused are con­sid­ered inno­cent until proven guilty.

Carl David Kiser, the board chair­man, is on the bal­lot for District 1, but is unopposed. 

State constitution 

Also on the bal­lot is a pro­posed amend­ment to the Kentucky Constitution. A yes vote on Amendment 1 would amend the con­sti­tu­tion to pro­hib­it the gov­er­nor from issu­ing par­dons or com­mut­ing sen­tences dur­ing the peri­od begin­ning 60 days before a guber­na­to­r­i­al elec­tion and end­ing on the fifth Tuesday after that elec­tion. A no vote oppos­es lim­it­ing the time frame for com­mut­ing sen­tences and grant­i­ng par­dons and would leave the sec­tion as it is now. 

Straight ticket 

One option on the Kentucky bal­lot is “straight par­ty” vot­ing. That allows vot­ers to choose all the mem­bers of one par­ty — not nec­es­sar­i­ly the par­ty they are reg­is­tered in — in par­ti­san races such as those for coun­ty, con­gres­sion­al, and state leg­isla­tive offices. 

The choic­es for straight-par­ty vot­ing are the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, and the Kentucky Party. 

Voters who use the straight-par­ty vot­ing option would still have to indi­vid­u­al­ly select can­di­dates in the non­par­ti­san races, such as those for school board, city com­mis­sion, and the courts, and would have to vote on the pro­posed con­sti­tu­tion­al amendment. 

You can find more infor­ma­tion, includ­ing the offi­cial bal­lots for Clark County and can­di­date pro­files on our Your Government page.