Kentucky HB 139: AN ACT relating to elections and declaring an emergency.

Status: delivered to Secretary of State (Acts Ch. 175) (as of 2026-04-14)

State: Kentucky · Session: 2026RS · Bill: HB 139

Subjects: Attorney, Commonwealth's, Counties, County Clerks, Education, Elementary And Secondary, Effective Dates, Emergency, Elections And Voting, Local Mandate, Secretary Of State, State Agencies

Bill Text

CHAPTER 175
Legislative Research Commission PDF Version

1
CHAPTER 175
( HB 139 )
AN ACT relating to elections and declaring an emergency.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
Section 1. KRS 116.112 is amended to read as follows:
(1) The State Board of Elections shall establish a voter registration purge program using the change-of-address
information supplied by the United States Postal Service through its licensees or other sources to identify
voters whose addresses may have changed. The State Board of Elections is authorized to enter into agreements
with other governmental agencies to further voter list maintenance practices. Intergovernmental agreements
for the exchanging of any data shall be permitted if the[ sole] purpose of exchanging data is to remove
ineligible voters. The data shall not be subject to any commercial use, directly or indirectly, or third-party
access to the voter registration system.
(2) (a) If it appears from information provided by the postal service or other sources that a voter has moved to
a different address in the same county in which the voter is currently registered, the State Board of
Elections shall provide to the county board of elections the information necessary to change the
registration records to show the new address and the State Board of Elections shall send to the new
address a notice of the change by forwardable mail on a form prescribed by the State Board of Elections
and a postage prepaid, pre-addressed return form by which the voter may verify or correct the address
information.
(b) If the county board of elections requests authorization from the State Board of Elections to send address
confirmation notices as provided in this subsection, the State Board of Elections shall grant the request.
(3) (a) If it appears from information provided by the postal service or other sources that a voter has moved to
a different address not in the same county, the State Board of Elections shall send to the address from
which the voter was last registered, by forwardable mail, a notice on a form prescribed by the State
Board of Elections, with a postage prepaid and pre-addressed return card on which the voter may state
his or her current address.
(b) If a county board of elections requests authorization from the state board to send address confirmation
notices as provided in this subsection, the state board shall grant the request.
(4) The state or county boards of elections shall not remove the name of a voter from the registration records on
the ground that the voter has changed his or her residence unless the voter:
(a) Confirms in writing, or on a form provided by the State Board of Elections on its official website, that
the voter has changed residence to a place outside the county; or
(b) 1. Has failed to respond to the notice described in subsection (3) of this section; and
2. Has not voted or appeared to vote and, if necessary, correct the registration records of the voter's
address in an election during the period beginning on the date of the notice and ending on the day
after the date of the second general election for federal office that occurs after the date of the
notice.
If a county board of elections requests authorization from the state board to conduct purges of voters in its
county in accordance with the provisions of this subsection, the state board shall grant the request.
(5) The State Board of Elections shall establish an inactive list of all voters who fail to respond to the notice
described in subsection (3) of this section and do not vote or appear to vote in an election during the period
beginning on the date of the notice and ending on the day after the date of the second general election for
federal office that occurs after the date of the notice. If a county board of elections requests authorization from
the state board to establish an inactive list of voters for its county, the state board shall grant the request.
(6) The State Board of Elections shall complete, not later than ninety (90) days prior to the date of a primary or
regular election, any program the purpose of which is to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters
from the registration records.

ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2
(7) Voters placed on an inactive list are to be counted only for purposes of voting and not for purposes of
establishing or modifying precincts, calculating the amount of reimbursement of county clerks by the State
Board of Elections for certain election-related expenses, or reporting official statistics, except as provided by
the Election Assistance Commission's regulations promulgated pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act
of 1993.
(8) (a) The State Board of Elections and county boards of elections shall maintain for at least two (2) years and
shall make available for public inspection and, where available, photocopying at a reasonable cost, all
records concerning the implementation of programs and activitie

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