Kentucky secretary of state election, 2011

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The Kentucky Secretary of State election of 2011 was held on November 8, 2011, following a primary election on May 17, 2011. Democrat attorney Alison Lundergan Grimes defeated Todd County businessman and teacher Bill Johnson.

Background

It was not clear whether Republican incumbent Secretary of State Trey Grayson would run for re-election in his current statewide position or campaign for higher office after Grayson lost a U.S. Senate primary to Rand Paul (R). Just prior to the 2010 Thanksgiving holiday weekend, he announced that he would not seek re-election as secretary of state, fueling speculation he would challenge Democratic State Attorney General Jack Conway instead.

Ultimately, Grayson announced that he would return to the private sector rather then make an attempt for the state attorney general's office following the end of his second term. He subsequently resigned his position several months earlier then expected after he was offered a job as director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Democratic Bowling Green Mayor Elaine Walker was named as Grayson's replacement by Democratic Governor Steve Beshear on Friday, January 7th, 2011. She was officially sworn into office three weeks later on Saturday, January 29th, immediately promising to run for a full term in office during the November elections.

General election

See also: Kentucky state executive official elections, 2011

Candidates

Republican Party - Todd County businessman Bill Johnson
a Democratic Party - Lexington attorney Alison Lundergan Grimes

Endorsements

Bill Johnson

• Kentucky Right to Life
• Northern Kentucky Right to Life
• Take Back Kentucky
• Coal Fed Families
• Central Kentucky Tea Party Patriots
• Freedom Heritage Forum
• Michael Lewis, Chairman of Independent Kentucky
• State Sens. Damon Thayer and Jack Westwood
• State Reps. Jim DeCesare, Wade Hurt, and Ryan Quarles

Alison Lundergan Grimes

• United Food & Commercial Workers Local 227
• United Steelworkers District 8
• Teamsters Local Union No. 651
• United Mine Workers of Kentucky
• Kentucky Laborers' District Council
• The Communication Workers of America
• Kentucky State Council of Machinists
• Kentucky Professional Firefighters & Louisville Retired Firefighters
• Indiana Kentucky Regional Council of Carpenters & Millwrights
• U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler
• Former Governors Martha Layne Collins, Brereton Jones, and Julian Carroll
• Lieutenant Governor Daniel Mongiardo
• Former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terry McAuliffe.
• State Sens. R.J. Palmer, Johnny Ray Turner, Joey Pendleton, Dennis Parrett, Kathy Stein, Robin Webb, Tim Shaughnessy, Ray Jones, Walter Blevins and Perry Clark
• State Reps. John Tilley, Rocky Adkins, Fred Nesler, Will Coursey, Melvin Henley, James Glenn, Jr., David Watkins, Brent Yonts, Johnny Bell, Martha King, Jimmie Lee, Jeff Greer, Charles Miller, Thomas Burch, Mary Marzian, Thomas Riner, Darryl Owens, Joni Jenkins, Carl Rollins, II, Rick Rand, Derrick Graham, Arnold Simpson, Mitchel Denham, Jr., Dennis Keene, John Stacy, Sannie Overly, Richard Henderson, Jesse Crenshaw, Rita Smart, Fitz Steele, John Short, Ted Edmonds, Keith Hall, Leslie Combs, Hubert Collins, Tanya Pullin and Kevin Sinnette

Debates

September 19, 2011 - Kentucky Tonight, KET

See also: Kentucky Secretary of State debate sees sparks fly over photo IDs for voting

On September 19, the television program Kentucky Tonight hosted an hour-long debate between Republican candidate Bill Johnson and Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. The major topic of conversation was voter registration rules -- Johnson proposed a photo ID requirement for voter registration to limit fraud, a policy Grimes opposed as unfair to the elderly, the homeless and students. Johnson also argued against a 2012 constitutional amendment that would allow felons convicted of non-violent crimes to vote after serving out their sentence; Grimes supported the measure.

Campaign finance

Neither candidate filed general election campaign finance reports as of October 5, 2011. See below for finance summaries from the primaries.

Polling

The first poll of the race, by Kentucky media outlet cn|2 in partnership with Public Policy Polling, showed Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes with a 10-point lead over her Republican opponent. By the end of August, that lead declined, with one poll showing a rise in undecided voters and another suggesting Johnson had closed the gap to within 3 percent.

Date of Poll	Pollster	Bill Johnson (R)	Alison Lundergan Grimes (D)	Undecided	Number polled
Aug. 29-31, 2011	cn|2/Braun Research	27.9%	36.8%	35.3%	803
Aug. 25-28, 2011	Public Policy Polling	35%	38%	26%	800
Jun. 6-8, 2011	cn|2	32.6%	43.8%	23.6%	797

Noteworthy events

Voter registration

Republican candidate Bill Johnson sought Democratic incumbent Elaine Walker's resignation for ordering the State Board of Elections to register homeless citizens to vote even if they couldn't provide a home address on their registration forms.

In a blog post published on his campaign website, Johnson said that Kentucky election law (KRS 166.155) required prospective voters to fill in an address on their voter registration card before being allowed to cast a ballot. He added that "providing an address is critical to determining and state residency," and suggested allowing voter registration without an address "opens our election process to potential fraud by felons, illegal immigrants, and other ineligible voters who only claim to be homeless." Johnson's memo called for Walker to resign and accused Alison Lundergan Grimes, who faced Johnson in November after defeating Walker in the May 17 Democratic primary, of being unfit for office by failing to criticize homeless voter registration.

Grimes' campaign manager, Jonathan Hurst, cited a different clause in state law to rebut Johnson's claim. According to Hurst, KRS 116.025 states that citizens, in order to vote, must only be 18 years old, a Kentucky resident, mentally competent, not registered to vote in other states and not a felon. He went on to argue that "Kentuckians do not give up their rights as citizens because they are not property owners."

Elaine Walker's office had no official reply to Johnson's accusations and gave no indication that registration of the homeless would stop.

Primary election

See also: Kentucky state executive official elections, 2011

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Incumbent Elaine Walker
• aAlison Lundergan Grimes, a Lexington attorney

Election results

Secretary of State -- Democratic primary results
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Democratic Party	a Alison Lundergan Grimes	55.25%
	Democratic Party	Elaine Walker	44.75%
Total Votes			154,610

Finances

Elaine Walker

As of September 2, 2011, the breakdown of Walker's campaign finances was as follows:

Elaine Walker Campaign Finance Reports -- Primary Election
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Total		---	---	$185,435.30	$176,685.57	---
60-Day Post-Primary		7/16/2011	$396.11	$300.00	$204.29	$491.82
30-Day Post-Primary		6/16/2011	$94,036.27	$61,190.00	$154,830.16	$396.11
15-Day Pre-Primary		5/2/2011	$79,269.38	$23,025.00	$8,258.11	$94,036.27
32-Day Pre-Primary		4/15/2011	$0.00	$100,920.50	$21,651.12	$79,269.38

Alison Lundergan Grimes

As of September 2, 2011, the breakdown of Grimes' campaign finances was as follows:

Alison Lundergan Grimes Campaign Finance Reports -- Primary Election
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Total		---	---	$442,135.00	$386,348.49	---
60-Day Post-Primary		7/16/2011	$42,916.98	$9,850.00	$0.00	$52,766.98
30-Day Post-Primary		6/16/2011	$311,745.61	$53,625.00	$319,459.10	$45,911.51
15-Day Pre-Primary		5/2/2011	$256,347.69	$75,377.00	$19,954.08	$311,770.61
32-Day Pre-Primary		4/15/2011	$0.00	$303,283.00	$46,935.31	$256,347.69

Withdrawn candidates

• Joe Graviss, a Versailles businessman and McDonald's franchise owner who filed a letter of intent with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010, withdrew two months later because of a “contractual obligation” to the fast-food company.

Republican primary

Candidates

• aBill Johnson, Western Kentucky businessman and a 10-year veteran of the United States Navy
• Hilda Legg, a former administrator of the USDA Rural Utilities Service in Washington, DC

Election results

Secretary of State -- Republican primary results
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	aBill Johnson	50.42%
	Republican Party	Hilda Legg	49.58%
Total Votes			131,714

NOTE: Hilda Legg requested a recanvass of the vote in the Republican primary, which was conducted on May 26. It did not change the result.

Finances

Bill Johnson

As of September 2, 2011, the breakdown of Johnson's campaign finances was as follows:

Bill Johnson Campaign Finance Reports -- Primary Election
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Total		---	---	$25,691.09	$23,861.85	---
60-Day Post-Primary		7/16/2011	$1,860.74	$0.00	$0.00	$1,860.74
30-Day Post-Primary		6/16/2011	$1,771.65	$1,650.00	$1,560.91	$1,860.74
15-Day Pre-Primary		5/2/2011	$3,539.35	$925.00	$2,574.20	$1,890.15
32-Day Pre-Primary		4/15/2011	$4,714.06	$13,146.09	$14,470.80	$3,389.35
Quarterly		12/31/2010	$0.00	$9,970.00	$5,255.94	$4,714.06

Hilda Legg

As of September 2, 2011, the breakdown of Legg's campaign finances was as follows:

Hilda Legg Campaign Finance Reports -- Primary Election
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Total		---	---	$165,095.00	$165,566.82	---
60-Day Post-Primary		7/16/2011	$-5,135.82	$0.00	$0.00	$-5,135.82
30-Day Post-Primary		6/16/2011	$116,751.97	$21,185.00	$138,722.34	$-785.37
15-Day Pre-Primary		5/2/2011	$103,951.64	$24,525.00	$11,411.12	$117,065.52
32-Day Pre-Primary		4/21/2011	$0.00	$119,385.00	$15,433.36	$103,951.64

Key dates

The following table details key dates and deadlines during the 2011 election:

Deadline	Event
January 25, 2011	Declaration of candidacy for primary
April 18, 2011	Voter registration for primary
May 10, 2011	Deadline to request absentee ballots by mail
May 16, 2011	Deadline to request absentee ballots in person
May 17, 2011	Emergency absentee ballot request for primary
May 17, 2011	Primary election
May 27, 2011	Last day to request a recount and to challenge primary results
June 6, 2011	Certification of primary results
August 9, 2011	Declaration of candidacy for general election
October 11, 2011	Voter registration for general election
October 28, 2011	Write-in candidate announcement for general election
November 1, 2011	Deadline to request absentee ballot for general election by mail
November 7, 2011	Deadline to request absentee ballot for general election in person
November 8, 2011	Emergency absentee ballot request for general election
November 8, 2011	General election
November 15, 2011	Last day to challenge general election results
November 18, 2011	Last day to request a general election recount
November 28, 2011	Certification of general election results

External links

• List of candidates qualified for Kentucky's May 17 Secretary of State primary
• Green Paper's list of candidates for Kentucky Attorney General, 2011

Republican candidates

• Bill Johnson for Secretary of State Campaign website
• Hilda Legg for Secretary of State website

Democratic candidates

• Alison L. Grimes for Kentucky Secretary of State website