Barren County 2020 voter turnout outpaced 2016 turnout

GLASGOW, Ky.- With Election Day 2020 officially in the books, local county clerks now have a good idea of how this year compared to 2016.

In Barren County, city and county officials say 2020 had more absentee and early voting than all of 2016. As far as the election as a whole, Barren County had just over 18,000 voters in 2016. This election the numbers are ahead of with over 20,000 voters in that area.

Now comparing early voting to Election Day turnout, many were expecting lower turnout for Election Day due to early voting being a popular choice. Barren County had roughly 11,809 early voters, and around 4,000 on election day.

Even with how different things were this year, Barren County Clerk Helena Birdwell said she’s glad so many voted in general.

“This is such an unprecedented time. The voters were so easy to work with. They made my job and my staff’s job a lot easier. We had to change almost everything that we knew as normal for this process. Everybody accepted it and still got out and voted. We just wanted folks to vote, and it looks like they did,” Birdwell said.