(LEX 18) — Today is Election Day for some Kentuckians.
There are three special elections happening to fill vacant seats in the state legislature.
One of those is the 22nd Senate District seat, which includes Jessamine, Mercer, Garrard, Washington, and part of Fayette counties. There are three candidates in the race: Democrat Helen Bukulmez, Republican Donald Douglas, and independent Sindicat "Sid" Dunn.
Voters will also decide between three candidates on the 51st House District seat: Democrat Edwin Rogers, Republican Michael Pollock, and independent Timothy Shafer.
In the 89th House District seat, there are two candidates on the ballot: Democrat Maetinee Suramek and Republican Timmy Truett.
Today is also the first time Kentucky rolls out new permanent voting reforms, which allowed three days of early voting. And this Election Day, Kentuckians who were eligible to vote had choices on where they could cast their ballot.
"We've got eight locations and they can go to any one of the eight," said Jessamine County Clerk Johnny Collier.
This change was possible because of election reforms Kentucky made earlier this year. Counties are now allowed to create vote sites where any voter in the county can cast a ballot - regardless of their precinct.
Jessamine County jumped onboard the change and created eight sites. Some of them were strategically placed in high-travel areas.
"We have two different locations on both main arteries going into Lexington," said Collier.
So, on Tuesday, voters were able to pick whichever location worked best for them. And many voters liked the change.
"I liked it. I thought that was really good," said Julie McDaniel. "I actually looked it up online to see where we could vote and I told my husband. I said it's really close to our house. It was very convenient. It was easy. Very easy."
This change is a new one and a few voters wished the county did more advertising of it. Some voters admitted that they went to their old polling location only to find nothing there.
However, many believe the centers will be good for voters in the long run.
"It gives people more access to the voting booth," said Mark Brewer. "As long as they're registered and everything is in good order, I think it's a good thing to do."
