Supposed X post from Michael Williams, KY Sec. Of State, “We’re getting calls about polls being closed. They are closed because we do not have elections today. Kentucky votes next year. You cannot vote today in Kentucky for the Mayor of New York City or the Governor of Virginia. Sorry.”
I have heard stories about MAGAs trying to place votes for areas and elections they do not qualify for openly, not understanding at all how the process works. Is there anything to these rumors?
Yes, Michael Adams, the Kentucky Secretary of State, posted that to Facebook and Twitter.
The Kentucky Sec of State is Michael Adams, not Williams. It looks to me like it was a joke post.
Although then he coupled it with a comment about needing more civic education, so perhaps his office really did get calls about elections.
I had to answer questions from my kids about why schools were closed for elections yesterday and yet I didn’t go vote. My locality had no ballot issues at all, so there was nothing to vote for.
Why am I getting the impression that by “Sorry” he means “I’m sorry we couldn’t vote in elections that have nothing to do with us”, and not “I’m sorry y’all are idiots”?
No, he clearly meant “sorry” in a joking way. He followed it up with a post decrying the lack of civic knowledge.
I wrote Williams instead of Adams accidentally.
Wait, is the question, “Are people that stupid and/or ignorant?”
To be fair, I can see how the “nationalization” of races can create the impression that every election day is election day everywhere. Not so much that some people in KY were trying to vote elsewhere but that from hearing all the media and online chatter about elections they’d expect there would be an election there, too. That I can see happening.
ISTM the SecState was just laying down the snark kind of thick.
The question was “Is it true, and if it is, has it happened elsewhere?”
I highly doubt any MAGAs in Kentucky were trying to vote for Cuomo in NYC or anything like that. They probably thought there were local elections in Kentucky. And to be fair, there were a whole lot of elections nationwide that KY residents might reasonably think KY has some too.
To be fair, we don’t know whether those who may have called the office of the Kentucky Secretary of State are right-wingers, left-wingers or are fans of the Detroit Red Wings. I don’t doubt that someone did ask them though.
Jas09 was referring to Adams’ post as a “joke,” not yours. (Funny mix-up there!)
I was unaware that there were states where there sometimes is no election on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. If I moved to Kentucky, I would have been checking on the web as to why I did not see any campaigning. However, other people check by making phone calls. So I would be surprised if Kentucky election officials did NOT get dozens of phone calls asking where to vote.
Now, the part about voting in Kentucky for the mayor of New York City is a joke.
As a Kentucky resident, I had to check twice to make sure that there wasn’t an election i should be voting in. So it’s easily conceivable that other Kentuckians did the same thing, including phone calls.
I can live with people showing up at their local polling place on the first Tuesday in November when there is no election. That mistake was made in the right direction.
That’s better than not showing up when there is an election.
I agree with what you’re saying in principle.
But if we’re talking about a guy in Kentucky who thought he could vote for New York City’s mayoral race… maybe this is a guy who shouldn’t be voting in real elections either.
Yeah, someone like that is a whole other can of fish.
Though TBF, that is something that was in Adams’ snark line and I am not aware that he has stated that he had a large number of people directly asking to do that. But whoever’s answering the phones surely got a few “why are they voting in New York and Virginia and not here?” calls.
Heck, I can even imagine people in states that DID have local elections, but who get all their news from the socials or the cable channels, only hearing about --and getting fundraising e-mail and texts for-- the NY/VA/NJ elections for months.
It’s not clear to me if the whole thing wasn’t just a joke.
I’m a little surprised that Kentucky didn’t have any elections at all. Granted, they don’t have any of the big-ticket ones like Governor or US Congress, but I’d expect there would be something downballot. Like, on Tuesday, I voted on two school board seats and three City Council. And yes, I knew going in that I wouldn’t be voting for New York mayor or Virginia governor.