“You cannot vote today”: Kentucky secretary of state issues blunt reminder to residents after election confusion

Some Kentucky residents flooded election hotlines on Tuesday after seeing nationwide coverage of Election Day, apparently completely unaware that their state wasn’t actually holding any elections.

Why did the Kentucky Secretary of State clarify that there was no election yesterday?

Elections in Virginia, New York, and other states have dominated national coverage. Seemingly, some Kentucky voters seemingly assumed they could participate in races outside their own state.

In an X post on Nov. 4, Republican Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams said his office received several calls from voters confused about why polling places weren’t open.

“We’re getting calls about polls being closed. They are closed because we do not have elections today. Kentucky votes next year. You cannot vote today in Kentucky for the mayor of New York City or the Governor of Virginia. Sorry,” he wrote.

Fed up with the calls, he later posted, “Have I mentioned my repeated call for civic education?”

Several states’ elections garnered national attention, including Virginia’s gubernatorial election and New York City’s mayoral election. However, some Kentucky voters didn’t realize that the widespread news coverage doesn’t mean they can cast their vote from another state.

How did voters react to his X post?

TikToker @kelsokru posted a video featuring the screenshot of Adams’ callout, questioning why voters thought they could elect another state’s representatives.

@kelsokru #greenscreen ♬ original sound – Kelly

“This is what we’re dealing with. This is America,” she exclaimed.

In the comments of her video, other voters weighed in on the confusion.

“Just think how many calls it took for them to decide to finally embarrass the entire Kentucky population,” one wrote.

“Kentucky is ranked 32nd in education…. Just in case anyone was wondering,” another commented.

“As someone who was forced to live in Kentucky… sounds about right,” a third added.

Others joked that, as big fans of some candidates in other states, they wish the uninformed voters were right.

“Hi, Kentuckian here. Now listen…I knew we obviously do not have elections today, ours are next year. But I would run to vote for Mamdani if I could’ve voted,” a commenter remarked.

“I am from Kentucky. I knew I couldn’t vote. But damn, I would have voted for Mamdani,” a second voter joked.

“I mean to be honest, I’m also upset I can’t vote for Mamdani,” a third wrote.

As post-election season chatter fills national feeds, Kentucky voters will have to wait until 2026 to cast their next ballots.