A Hot Girl's Guide to Election Night 2024.
what i'll be watching + where to find me tuesday.
Everyone ready to rock n roll? No? Well, too bad. Here we go.
How things are looking rn re: election
If you’re reading this, early voting in Kentucky is over. And what a time we’ve already had.
There was an insane level of demand for early voting, with folks early Thursday (the first day of early voting) sharing tales of needing to wait, like, upwards and beyond an hour to vote.
Nearly 800,000 Kentuckians either voted early or used mail-in ballots as of Sunday afternoon. (!!!) Just a quick lil look at the early voting numbers:
Of the 656,277 Kentuckians who voted early (no stats for the mail-in folks yet), Republicans disproportionately showed up (but not by a lot).
Third-party voters make up ~10% of Kentucky voters yet where they at?
Anderson County, which typically has a higher voter turnout, won the early voting turnout contest with 41% of their registered voters voting early.
BTW: Secretary of State Michael Adams has been absolutely on it when it comes to 1. generally responding to election questions and conspiracies online and 2. sharing data about how many folks voted and what the party breakdown looks like. I recommend following him on Twitter and turning on his notifications for Election Day.
What you need to know for Election Day
For those of us who haven’t voted yet, please do so on Tuesday. (I am a Day Of Election Day voting girlie; there is no shame in the game.)
Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know:
Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time in Kentucky.
If you are in line by 6 p.m., they have to let you vote. ~Stay in line!~
Michael Adams is and has been expecting long lines on Election Day. DO NOT LET THAT SCARE YOU AWAY. Just think smart — folks who voted early recommended dressing in layers; maybe bringing an umbrella, perhaps a snack or refreshment; definitely bringing something to do should you hit a line. Just picture voting = a hike or road trip.
If you need to know your polling place, go here and plug in your information. It will tell you.
Please look up your ballot ahead of time so you can educate yourself on the races + issues and quickly vote/not start crying in the ballot box because Amendment 1 has a lot of words and you weren’t ready for it or something.
Yes, you can take a picture of your ballot/snap a selfie with your ballot. (Recent email subject line to the Secretary of State’s office: “Ballot selfies?”)
But don’t be, like, filming everything inside your polling place — there are rules around that, and generally, unless you’re media, it is a no-go. Save the vlogging for outside.
Things I’m watching: An overview
I’ll be mostly focusing on Kentucky’s state Senate and House races, aka the folks heading to Frankfort, and this year’s constitutional amendments.
Federal-level stuff isn’t really my thing in terms of coverage, and y’all aren’t really looking to me for hot takes on Congress, but I will also keep an eye on the state’s U.S. House seats.
Obvs, because I am me and am nothing without my brand, I’ll also be watching some ~JCPS school board~ results.
Constitutional Amendment 2
Um, hello, HUGE deal. Top thing I will be watching.
I just dug into the data and wrote a piece for Queer Kentucky looking at who exactly is funding what will be the most expensive constitutional amendment measure in Kentucky’s history.
Top takeaway? When it comes to individual supporters, pro-school choice folks might be spending big, but the anti-A2 crowd has way more people. And dollars don’t vote; people do.
A handful of hotly contested state House races
All 100 House seats are up for election, and just under half are contested. I’m not going to bore you with a list of every contested race, so here are my ones to watch:
House District 45 to replace GOP Rep. Killian Timoney between Dem Adam Moore and Republican Thomas Jefferson (yes, that’s his name). If any House seat is gonna flip in favor of the Dems, it will probably be this one in Lexington.
Other races I’ll be watching:
GOP Rep. Wade Williams vs. Dem Lloyd Smith in WKY
Dem Minority Caucus Chair Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson vs. GOP’s Vanessa Grossl around Lex
GOP House Majority Whip Rep. Jason Nemes vs. Dem Taylor Jolly in Louisville
Dem Kate Farrow vs. GOP Rep. Ken Fleming around Louisville
GOP Rep. John Hodgson vs. Dem Woody Zorn around Louisville
GOP Rep. Emily Callaway vs. Dem John Stovall in Louisville
GOP Carrie McKeehan vs. Dem Rep. Rachel Roarx in Louisville
GOP Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell vs. Dem former Rep. Mary Lou Marzian in Louisville
And literally just one state Senate race
The last-second write-in battle to replace late Sen. Johnnie Turner, who died a few weeks ago, is ooof.
There are nearly a dozen folks suddenly staging campaigns to replace Turner in representing the Eastern KY district.
It will be interesting to watch 1. who wins, obvs 2. if this seat flips from R to D because there is now a Dem running for it and 3. what voter turnout looks like when you can’t just pick a name on the ballot but have to remember someone’s name and care enough to write it down.
Where you can find me on Election Night
I’ll be running Queer Kentucky’s election coverage all day (yee-haw!) and a lot of that reporting + analysis will be broadcast nationally through the Queer News Network’s Election Day masterplan, which will include coverage from across the country. All of my full written sentences will be found there.
Past that, I plan on putting out a special Election Day edition of The Gallery Pass once we have enough surefire results for me to discuss. Hopefully, I’ll be able to send that out Tuesday night or early Wednesday, but I’m trying to be as flexible to the whims of election results as I can.
Also, please, if you don’t mind — and even if you do mind — can y’all share my newsletter with your friends/family/favorite policy wonks/etc.? Everyone’s gonna have a lot of questions about a lot of stuff, and I’m here to help, but I can only help if folks are reading my work. Here’s the subscription link.
In terms of social media, I’ve repeatedly learned the hard way that overextending myself on Election Day is very silly and very stupid. I will try my best to keep all of my socials updated with live hot takes and results, but if push comes to shove, here’s my order of priority:
TikTok (a lot of my TikToks will be reposted on Queer Kentucky’s Insta, for the TikTok haters in the chat)
I will not be doing anything on Facebook or Reddit unless there is some sort of real and/or metaphorical gun to my head.
How to contact me on Election Eve/Day/Night
See something? Hear something? Got a question? Just wanna weigh in on how I’m covering things? Please reach out! Easiest ways to reach me are:
Text me (but only if you have my number) (and plz don’t call me unless absolutely necessary)
Email me at olivia.krauth@gmail.com/by responding directly to this newsletter.
DM me on Twitter. (You can DM me on other social media platforms but I likely won’t see it until December 2025.)
You can also drop your ideas/requests/concerns/fears in this Google Form! Please do; I really want to hear what you’re thinking.
Yeah, so, I think that covers it. We will talk very soon. GO VOTE!!!!!