Tagged: Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes

Kentucky military personnel serving overseas will be able to get ballots electronically under legislation approved late Tuesday in the Kentucky General Assembly. How they send them back is still to be determined.

Working until the last minute of the 2013 session, legislators went back to the original Senate version of the military voting bill that allowed for electronic sending of ballots to overseas military, but snail mail return of the ballot.

Kentuckians have 590 days-plus before the 2014 general election, but already the political chatter is centered on potential challengers to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell—chiefly actress Ashley Judd and her potential candidacy's supposed strengths and weaknesses.

But Judd isn't the only possible candidate.

A bill designed  to allow Kentuckians in the military deployed overseas vote electronically has cleared the House, after amendments returned Senate Bill 1 to a full electronic system.

Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes is the main promoter of the bill and urged House lawmakers to return to full electronic provisions after the Senate did not include the electronic return of a ballot.

United Kentucky Tea Party is blaming Republican U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell for stalling a bill in the General Assembly that would have allowed Kentucky's military service members to vote electronically while overseas.

The legislation was spearheaded by Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and backed by Republican state Senate President Robert Stivers.

In January, Stivers told WFPL Frankfort Bureau Chief Kenny Colston he wanted the bill to pass quickly. But at a committee meeting this week, Stivers urged an amendment that weakened the measure.

 From The Lexington Herald-Leader: 

After the committee unanimously approved the amended version of Senate Bill 1, Stivers acknowledged that he had consulted with U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell about the measure. McConnell, a Republican, is seeking re-election next year. Many Democrats are urging Grimes to run against him.