Kentucky Secretary of State election, 2023

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Kentucky Secretary of State
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election;
Election details
	Filing deadline: January 6, 2023
	Primary: May 16, 2023; General: November 7, 2023; Pre-election incumbent(s):; Michael Adams (Republican)
How to vote
	Poll times: 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Voting in Kentucky
Ballotpedia analysis
	Federal and state primary competitiveness; State executive elections in 2023; Impact of term limits in 2023; State government trifectas; State government triplexes; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2023
Kentucky; executive elections
	Governor; Lieutenant Governor; Attorney General; Secretary of State; Treasurer; Auditor of Public Accounts; Commissioner of Agriculture

Kentucky 2023 elections

Governor • Lt. Gov • Attorney General • Secretary of State • State executive offices • Special state legislative • School boards • Municipal • How to run for office

Kentucky held an election for secretary of state on November 7, 2023. The primary was May 16, 2023. The filing deadline was January 6, 2023. The Democratic primary was canceled after only one candidate filed.

Incumbent Michael Adams won election in the general election for Kentucky Secretary of State.

For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Kentucky Secretary of State

Incumbent Michael Adams defeated Charles Wheatley and Ken Moellman in the general election for Kentucky Secretary of State on November 7, 2023.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Michael Adams (R)	60.6	785,237
	Charles Wheatley (D)	39.4	510,090
	Ken Moellman (No Party Affiliation) (Write-in)	0.0	518

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,295,845
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Charles Wheatley advanced from the Democratic primary for Kentucky Secretary of State.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Kentucky Secretary of State

Incumbent Michael Adams defeated Stephen L. Knipper and Allen Maricle in the Republican primary for Kentucky Secretary of State on May 16, 2023.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Michael Adams	63.9	171,391
	Stephen L. Knipper	26.5	70,991
	Allen Maricle	9.6	25,771

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 268,153
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Charles Wheatley

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography: "I’m a fourth generation Covington firefighter, and I served my community for 20 years. Along with my brother, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, our family represents nearly 100 years of firefighting service to the people of Covington. I finished my firefighting career serving as Fire Chief of the Covington Fire Department from 2005-2008. I attended NKU’s Salmon P. Chase Law School while serving as Fire Chief, eventually launching a career as a solo labor attorney, working on behalf of public sector labor unions. I was elected as a State Representative in 2018, and I was proud to work on stabilizing our pensions and increasing access to the polls. I’m running for Kentucky Secretary of State because I believe that our elections should be free and fair. Kentucky is one of the hardest places in the country to vote, and I want to be a leader focused on making it easier to vote and increasing voter turnout. I’m also a proud husband, father and grandfather. My wife, Dr. Judi Godsey Wheatley, our two daughters and our granddaughter mean the world to me. "

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

Kentucky is one of the hardest places in the country to vote, and I want to change that. I will advocate to keep our polls open until 7PM - right now, we’re closing the doors on working families at 6PM.

We need to increase the number of polling locations. My opponent drastically reduced the number of polling places across the state during the 2022 election, and we saw the lowest voter turnout in 3 decades. I think that’s wrong, and I won’t let it happen under my watch.

I want to allow Independents and 3rd party voters to participate in our primaries. This will ensure our candidates in the general election are more representative of the entire Kentucky electorate, and it will increase civic engagement.

This information was current as of the candidate's run for Kentucky Secretary of State in 2023.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Kentucky

Election information in Kentucky: Nov. 7, 2023, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

In-person: Oct. 10, 2023
By mail: Postmarked by Oct. 10, 2023
Online: Oct. 9, 2023

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

No

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

In-person: N/A
By mail: Received by N/A
Online: Oct. 24, 2023

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

In-person: Nov. 7, 2023
By mail: Received by Nov. 7, 2023

Was early voting available to all voters?

N/A

What were the early voting start and end dates?

Nov. 2, 2023 to Nov. 4, 2023

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

Photo ID

When were polls open on Election Day?

6:00 AM - 6:00 PM (EST)

Election history