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Secretary of State Michael Adams announced Friday that 403,040 registered voters have been removed from the voter rolls since he took office in 2020, under a U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) settlement announced in 2018.

In the 10 days voter registration was open in May, he noted Kentucky saw more voters removed from the rolls (5,723) than added (5,496).

Of the 5,723 voters removed in May, 4,819 were deceased, 451 had moved out of state, 350 were convicted of felonies, 61 were adjudged mentally incompetent, 24 were duplicate registrations, and 18 voluntarily de-registered.

Adams, who is to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston on Sunday, June 9, noted, “While Kentucky is being celebrated nationally for expanding voter access, let’s also take pride that in our Commonwealth we have election integrity.”

The settlement resolved the DOJ’s claims that Kentucky was not complying with the voter registration list maintenance procedures set forth in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA). Under the terms of the settlement, Kentucky developed and implemented a general program of statewide voter list maintenance that makes a reasonable effort to remove the names of registrants who have become ineligible due to a change in residence in accordance with the NVRA and state law.

A DOJ investigation found that, since 2009, Kentucky has not sent statutorily required notices to registrants under the change-of-address process contemplated by the NVRA and state law. The investigation also found that, since 2015, Kentucky has not removed registrants through this process when the registrants have moved to a new jurisdiction without notifying election officials.  

According to the newly released figured, Republican registrants account for 46 percent of the electorate, with 1,616,861 voters. GOP registration rose by 1,410 voters, a .09 percent increase. Democratic registrants make up 44 percent of the electorate, with 1,508,690 voters. Democratic registration fell by 2,552 voters, a .17 percent decrease. There are 365,227 voters registered as Independent or under other political affiliations, 10 percent of the electorate. “Other” registration went up by 915 voters, a .25 percent increase.