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Attorney General Says Vote Buying Rare in Ky. Elections

An empty polling station at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, KY.
Charles Compton
/
WEKU News
An empty polling station at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, KY.

State officials and local police promise to be watchful tomorrow for acts of voter fraud.  Over the years, votes have been bought in Kentucky with the promise of cash, favors and liquor.  More recently, prescription pills may have been used as currency.  But, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway believes such voting buying is rare.

“I don’t want to diminish the prescription pill problem.  It’s a huge problem in this state.  But, I would submit, in terms of buying votes with pills, it’s probably something you see on the margins,” said Conway.

Conway says partnerships formed over the years between federal, state, and local law enforcement have effectively fought voter fraud.   The attorney general claims their response to complaints is pretty quick.

“We can have a law enforcement officer on the scene of a complaint fairly quickly.  So we encourage the voters of Kentucky to be the eyes and ears and calling any complaints to out election fraud hotline and we’ll get on it just as quickly as we can,” added Conway.

In 2008, Conway says there were some 450 complaints made through a hotline set up by his office.  He says that’s about four times higher than an off year election.

Stu Johnson is a reporter/producer at WEKU in Lexington, Kentucky.
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