Kentucky allows voter citizenship checks starting in January 2028

The State Board of Elections may make agreements with federal agencies to identify registered voters who have died or are not U.S. citizens. Kentucky voters flagged as noncitizens through these federal agreements must receive a mailed notice and cannot cast a regular ballot until their citizenship is verified. Written citizenship-check agreements must limit shared voter information to names, birth dates, and the last four Social Security number digits, if available. Flagged voters must bring accepted citizenship documents to their county clerk, such as a qualifying U.S. birth certificate, passport, or naturalization certificate. The clerk records a copy, and the state board removes the flag. At a voting location, a flagged voter may cast a provisional ballot, which is kept for eligibility review, only after swearing to U.S. citizenship under penalty of perjury. The board must send flagged registrations to the Attorney General's election investigation unit and report any later citizenship verification. Section 30 takes effect January 1, 2028. Flagged voters must verify citizenship before the day after the second federal general election following identification to avoid removal from the voter list.

Election officials must carry out voter-list checks and publish voter counts by address. Voters using the alternative identification process must sign an affirmation and show an accepted card. These rules cover Kentucky voter records and voters using alternative identification. Public address reports must hide personal identifying information, and people at listed addresses may be contacted about registration only by mail. The alternative identification process requires an approved Kentucky county card or a card with the voter's name and photograph. The voter must be eligible, entitled to vote in that precinct, and affirm a listed obstacle to obtaining the normally required identification. Felony-related removals include convictions under appeal. Section 31 removals cannot occur while registration books are closed. A voter who protests a Section 31 removal receives a hearing at the county board's next regular monthly meeting. A successful protest restores registration and allows voting in the upcoming election if registration books are closed. A person convicted of a felony whose voting rights have not been restored commits a Class D felony by knowingly voting or attempting to vote. Knowingly voting in the wrong precinct can also bring criminal penalties, depending on which races the person can vote in there. The law required the court agency's list of ineligible felony voters by July 24, 2026, and removal by August 4, 2026. Address reports and lifetime Kentucky death records are due annually by July 1.

Kentucky sets voting equipment standards and requires county election boards to compare selected machine totals with paper ballots counted by hand. Equipment that counts or combines votes used in official results cannot connect to networks or outside devices. County boards must send precinct results and the required voting records to the state board within ten days after a primary or general election. Counties may keep using equipment approved and used before Section 3 takes effect until they acquire a replacement voting system. When a federal equipment standard changed less than 36 months before an examination request, the state board may approve the prior standard after reviewing election security and the process and cost of meeting the amended standard. Each county checks one randomly selected scanner and one race counted on it, with more than ten votes cast. Workers from different parties count the ballots, with public witnesses present. Differences between machine and hand counts require an investigation, except for specified marks the scanner could not read and ballots marked for too many candidates. More ballots than voter sign-ins also require an investigation. Section 3 takes effect when the act becomes law. The text does not state an effective date for Section 34's audit provisions.

Kentucky sets rules for party recognition, candidate filings, judicial campaigns, election challenges, and certain local elections. A group qualifies as a political party with at least 10% of the total vote at the preceding presidential election. If a court ruling leaves most city legislative seats vacant under the specified election-error or fraud rule, officials must call a special election for eligible candidates who previously qualified. Judicial candidates cannot claim official party nomination or imply party nomination, selection, or endorsement. Party committees may lawfully support or oppose candidates in nonpartisan races, and judicial elections remain nonpartisan. Nomination petition signatures need the signing date, birth date, and home address to count. Write-in candidates must file by the applicable ballot-certification or special-election deadline. A person who wins a court challenge to a candidate's legal eligibility receives reasonable legal fees, expert fees, and court costs from the candidate or campaign committee. A successful election challenger receives reasonable legal fees, expert fees, and court costs from the local election board or a party found responsible for wrongdoing that prevented a fair election. Population-balancing changes to county school-board divisions cannot occur after June 1 in a school-board election year. A called school-tax vote must occur 50–60 days after petition validation, unless the board chooses the next regular election.

Kentucky sets campaign donation limits, donor-disclosure rules, reporting deadlines, and permitted uses of campaign money. Candidate donation limits follow the federal candidate limit, adjusted for inflation. Detailed reports identify most donors giving more than $200, while donations from permanent political committees are listed at any amount. Political advertising must identify its payer, with listed exceptions, and sellers cannot charge more than their lowest current advertising rate. The $10,000 annual donation limit applies separately to a party's state committee, its subdivisions or affiliates, and a legislative caucus campaign committee. Donations solely to a state party's building fund are excepted. Cash donations are capped at $200 per donor per election. Anonymous donations are capped at $200 each and $2,000 total per election. Candidates who exceed a reporting exemption's $5,000 election limit must file the applicable reports for the rest of that election. Otherwise exempt candidates still must file post-election reports. State legislators may transfer leftover campaign money to run for statewide constitutional office. Filers with no receipts or spending since their last report may report no change and give their remaining balance. Covered reports are timely when received within seven business days after the reporting period or stated deadline. Late-filing penalties cannot begin until five business days after notice, and timely correction avoids the penalty.