Data from the state Board of Elections reports 31,133 Fayette County residents voted early this election cycle. The county clerk’s office says that’s good for 12.6 percent of Fayette County’s eligible voters. The number nearly matches the total voter turnout for this year’s primary, which was 12.8 percent. Fayette County Clerk Susan Lamb says it’s the largest voter turnout she’s seen in her tenure. “I believe it is completely 100 percent fair to say that there probably was 300 people at most of the day in most of the lines,” Lamb said. Counting absentee ballots, 42,064 Fayette County voters cast ballots before Election Day. 80 percent of all absentee ballots were returned, or 10,570 of 13,138. Lamb says they expect the high turnout to continue, but they’ll have more options for voters on Election Day. “Not only will we have all the precincts open at 135 voting locations, we’ll have 286 precincts, but we will also have the libraries still open, so anyone can go to any of the six libraries,” Lamb said. More than 51,000 in Fayette County voted early in 2020 and more than 90,000 voted absentee, according to the state Board of Elections. The entire Commonwealth is seeing record early voting turnout this election cycle. Statewide, 686,285 people have voted early. That includes during both the excused and unexcused in-person periods. Another 103,686 have voted absentee. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. today throughout Kentucky. ** WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, and fact-based journalism. Monthly supporters are the top funding source for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation. The post Fayette County sees more than 30,000 take part in early voting appeared first on The Lexington Times.