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What to Bring to the Polls

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A hand-drawn photo ID card resting on a marked-up sample ballot, with a pencil.

Pack Light, Pack Right

You need one thing to vote in person in Kentucky: a photo ID with your name on it. Everything else on this page is either optional or a backup plan.

That's the short version. The longer version matters this year because one of those backup plans changed in April, and some of the guides you'll find online haven't caught up. If you've voted here before with a Social Security card, read the next two sections before November 3.

The One Thing: A Photo ID

Any ID with your name and photo counts if it was issued by one of these:

  • the Commonwealth of Kentucky, such as a driver's license or state ID card
  • the federal government, such as a U.S. passport
  • the U.S. military, the Merchant Marines or the Kentucky National Guard
  • a public or private college or university in the United States
  • a Kentucky city or county government

A high school ID does not count.

What about an expired ID? Kentucky's legal definition asks only that the ID show your name and your photo, and says nothing about an expiration date. VoteRiders also says an expired ID is fine. If yours has lapsed and you want certainty, a quick call to the Clerk will settle it.

If you're 18 or older and don't have a valid driver's license, Kentucky will give you a state ID card for free. Getting one takes documents of its own, including a birth certificate and Social Security card, and a trip to a Driver Licensing Regional Office. There isn't one in Pendleton County; the nearest are in Northern Kentucky and Maysville. That takes time, so if you need one, start this week.

No Photo ID? The Backup Plan, and What Changed

If you don't have a photo ID and can't reasonably get one, you can still vote a regular ballot. You sign a voter affirmation at the polls, and you show one supporting document.

The affirmation asks why you couldn't get a photo ID. Accepted reasons include lack of transportation, a missing birth certificate or other documents, a work schedule, a lost or stolen ID, disability or illness, family responsibilities, a religious objection to being photographed, or having applied for an ID that hasn't arrived.

The supporting document now has to be one of these:

  • an ID card issued by a Kentucky county and approved by the State Board of Elections
  • any other ID that shows your name and your photo

That list is shorter than it was. Under HB 139, passed this April and in effect since July 15, a Social Security card or a Kentucky food stamp, EBT or SNAP card no longer works as the supporting document. A poll worker who knows you personally can no longer vouch for you, either. Credit and debit cards came off the list in 2025. In the 2024 general election, 981 Kentuckians used a Social Security card this way and 67 used a benefits card, according to State Board figures reported to a Senate committee.

If you were planning to bring one of those cards, plan on a photo ID instead, and call the Clerk now if that's going to be hard.

If you have neither a photo ID nor one of those documents, don't leave. Ask for a provisional ballot. Kentucky's rules list a voter without identification among those who can cast one, and you'll be handed a sheet explaining how to find out whether it was counted. Call the Clerk afterward to ask what you'll need for it to count.

Allowed in Your Pocket

Voting is an open-book test. You can bring notes or a sample ballot you've marked up at home, and the Secretary of State encourages it. Pendleton's sample ballot now reads aloud with a screen reader: https://web.sos.ky.gov/ballots/Pendleton%202026G.pdf.

You can bring your phone. Ballot selfies are legal in Kentucky as long as no other voter or other ballot is in the frame. A photo of your ballot can never be used to prove how you voted in exchange for anything, because buying or selling a vote is a crime.

You can wear a candidate's shirt, hat or button. What you can't do is campaign within 100 feet of the polling place, which means no asking the people in line for their votes.

You can also ask for help. Kentucky's Voter Bill of Rights includes the right to assistance in voting, and to up to two replacement ballots if you make a mistake before casting yours.

When You Get There

Check in with a poll worker, show your ID, and sign the roster. If you're using the affirmation route, this is where you ask for the form. You'll then be handed a ballot or directed to a machine. If you need the accessible voting option, ask for it by name; every polling place has one.

Make sure you're at your own precinct. If a poll worker says you're in the wrong place, ask where your precinct votes and go there, rather than casting a ballot where you are.

Two things to watch on the ballot itself. If you use a straight-party option, look over the whole ballot afterward: nonpartisan races, such as judges and school board, have no party for that mark to follow, so they need their own marks. And if you're writing someone in, read How a Write-In Vote Counts in Kentucky before you go.

If you're in line when polls close at 6 p.m., stay in line. Kentucky law keeps the polls open until every voter in line at 6 p.m. has voted.

When to Go, and Who to Ask

Tuesday, 20 October
by 11:59 p.m.
Last day to request a mail-in absentee ballot (excuse required).
21–23 and 26–28 October
Excused in-person absentee voting, for voters who qualify.
29–31 October
Thursday to Saturday
No-excuse early voting, open to everyone.
Tuesday, 3 November
6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Election Day.

Dates from the Pendleton County Clerk. The same ID rules apply whether you vote early or on Election Day.

For your polling place, the early-voting location and hours, or any question this page can't answer, call the Pendleton County Clerk, Kinley G. Scott, at 859-654-3380. The office is at 233 Main Street, Room 1, Falmouth, open Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:00 p.m., plus 8:30 a.m. to noon on the second and last Saturday of the month, except holiday weekends.

Early voting, excused and no-excuse alike, happens at the old courthouse in Falmouth, the same building as the Clerk's office, [early voting hours not published]. Statewide, the State Board of Elections runs a polling-place lookup at elect.ky.gov.

A Note on Where I Stand

I work the polls in Pendleton County, so I vote early. In a county this size, the person who checks you in may well be someone you know. This page is written as a citizen, not on behalf of the Clerk or the Board of Elections. When this page and an election officer disagree, the officer has the current instructions, so ask them, and then let me know so I can fix this page.

Sources

Enacted text: Acts of the General Assembly 2026, Chapter 175 (HB 139), §§48, 51, 52, at apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/acts/26RS/documents/0175.pdf. Effective date: OAG 26-03 (April 20, 2026). KRS 117.001 (definition of proof of identification), KRS 117.228 (voter affirmation and supporting documents), KRS 118.035 (polling hours and voters in line at 6 p.m.) and 31 KAR 6:020 (provisional voting), Kentucky General Assembly. Pendleton County Clerk's Office contact and office-hours card (screenshot, October 3, 2026). Pendleton County Clerk's Office, Facebook: voter ID graphic (September 8, 2026) and key-dates graphic (September 14 & 30, 2026). Image-only; not posted on the Clerk's website.

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