• Kentucky’s 2026 primary election is scheduled for May 19.
• Excused in-person absentee voting is available May 6-8 and May 11-13.
• No-excuse in-person absentee voting is available May 14-16.

Kentucky’s 2026 primary election is set for May 19, but those who can’t make it to the polls in person on Election Day have some early voting options.

In Jefferson County, qualifying voters can cast ballots beginning May 6, while anyone can vote in person beginning May 14. Here’s when and where to vote in Louisville.

When is the 2026 Kentucky primary election?

The primary election in Kentucky is on May 19.

When is in-person, excused absentee voting?

In-person, excused absentee voting will take place May 6–8 and May 11–13. Voters can visit the State Board of Elections website at govote.ky.gov to find information on where and when voting will be available in their county.

Find a list of qualifications for excused absentee voting here.

When is in-person, no-excuse absentee voting?

In-person absentee voting that’s open to anyone is scheduled for May 14–16. Voters can visit the State Board of Elections website at govote.ky.gov to find information on where and when voting will be available in their county.

Excused early voting in Jefferson County

In-person, excused absentee voting will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on May 6-8 and May 11-13 at the Jefferson County Election Center, 1000 E. Liberty St.

Learn more: Your guide to candidates running in Kentucky’s 2026 primary elections

No-excuse early voting in Jefferson County

In-person, no-excuse absentee voting is from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 14-16 at the following locations:

• Americana World Community Center, 4801 Southside Drive, 40214
• The Arterburn, 310 Ten Pin Lane, 40207
• Berrytown Recreation Center, 100 Heafer Road, 40224
• Cyril Allgeier Community Center, 4101 Cadillac Court, 40213
• Epiphany United Methodist Church, 7032 Southside Drive, 40214
• Goodwill Opportunity Campus – Broadway, 2820 W. Broadway, 40211
• Goodwill Opportunity Campus – Preston, 6201 Preston Highway, 40219
• The Heritage, 1901 Park Road, 40216
• Immanuel United Church of Christ, 2300 Taylorsville Road, 40205
• The Jeffersonian, 10617 Taylorsville Road, 40299
• Jefferson County Clerk’s Office – Downtown Branch, 200 S. Fifth St., Suite 228, 40202
• Jefferson County Clerk’s Office – East Branch, 12312-A Shelbyville Road, 40243
• Jefferson County Clerk’s Office – Fairdale Branch, 10616 W. Manslick Road, 40118
• Jefferson County Clerk’s Office – West Branch, 228 Amy Ave., 40212
• Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, 1701 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd., 40203
• Lyndon Elks Lodge #2052, 904 Ormsby Lane, 40242
• New Zion Baptist Church, 1501 Louis Coleman Jr. Drive, 40211
• Old Forester’s Paristown Hall, 724 Brent St., 40204
• St. Andrew United Church of Christ, 2608 Browns Lane, 40220
• Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Church, 4335 Hazelwood Rive, 40215
• Sun Valley Community Center, 6505 Bethany Lane, 40272
• Teamster’s Local Union #783, 7711 Beulah Church Road, 40228
• Triple Crown Pavilion, 1780 Plantside Drive, 40299
• UofL Shelby Campus – Founders Union Bldg. Rm. 218, 450 N. Whittington Parkway, 40222

Reach Marina Johnson at Marina.Johnson@courier-journal.com.

There were plenty of people who liked the chances of Japanese shipper T O Elvis (Volatile) in Saturday’s GI Churchill Downs Stakes. He had won four straight races, was on the improve, and the word out of Japan was that this horse might be as good as any sprinter in the world. That he was 30-1 on the morning line made the idea of placing a large wager on the 4-year-old even more enticing.

He was never going to be 30-1. The linemaker whiffed badly on that one. But as the field left the gate, T O Elvis was 12.82-1, a price that would have led to a $27.64 payoff had he won. For a horse who was competitive on paper, but was surely facing the toughest assignment of his career, the price seemed right.

T O Elvis came through, thrashing 10 quality horses to win by 3 1/4 lengths. It should have been a time for his backers to celebrate, but there was likely more resentment than satisfaction among winning horseplayers when the win price was posted. T O Elvis went off at 5.87-1 and paid $13.74.

The ones who were really celebrating were the CAW players, who, without a doubt, were behind the massive odds drop and likely won about $1.6 million on their win wager.

And that’s just in the win pool. The winning exacta combining T O Elvis and Disruptor (Gun Runner) dropped from $122.77 to $54.22 in the very last betting cycle.

It appears that CAW players also crushed the daily double, combining T O Elvis and GI Turf Classic Stakes winner Rhetorical (Not This Time). In the next-to-last betting cycle that double combination was paying $63.82. It wound up paying $26.08 for a $1 wager.

That information is courtesy of economics professor and horseplayer Marshall Gramm, who charted the changes in the pools and the prices and posted them on X.

“In the third-to-last click, T O Elvis was 12.82-1, representing 5.97% of the win pool,” Gramm wrote in an email. “In the next click, the total win pool increased from $3.69 million to $4.39 million. If we assume the ‘regular’ money remained constant at 5.97%, then of the roughly $311,000 wagered on T O Elvis in that cycle, about $269,000 likely came from the team. (I’m using the singular since it appears to be one group).

“They also heavily bet into the other pools, definitely the exacta and double and likely others as well, all during this second-to-last click. The final click was relatively small. T O Elvis’s odds actually drifted slightly from 5.81-1 to 5.87-1. That last click appears to be when they finalized their exotic positions.”

So, here we go again. Horse racing is the only gambling game where you can win a bet and be made to feel like a chump. As expected, there were a number of players who voiced their outrage on X.

NYRA linemaker David Aragona posted this: “T O Elvis was dazzling, and anyone who watched his last race can’t be surprised he just did that. But hopefully this race serves as a needed inflection point around the lack of regulation of CAW wagering, because that was as egregious as you’ll see.”

“T O Elvis listed at 12-1. Wins easy at 5-1,” Mike Mutnansky tweeted. “You thought you were getting a $26 winner. You got a $12 winner. What a terrible look for racing. Happy this happened on national TV. What a [expletive] joke they’ve let the CAWs become.”

It’s not that this was anything particularly new. We’ve seen thousands of these large odds drops over the last several years and it happens at every track in the country. But what made this different was that it was on the Derby Day card. Some people believed and said that the pools are so big on the day that the action from the CAW players couldn’t possibly put more than a small dent in the prices.

Obviously, that’s not the case. Between the win pool, the exacta pool, the double pool and whatever other bets they used T O Elvis in, the CAW players easily bet more than $500,000 on the horse. The race went to show the money these teams have, the power they have and their willingness to wager huge amounts when they think they have found inefficiencies in the wagering pools.

They could have lost. But they didn’t. And their windfall cost the regular player hundreds of thousands of dollars they would have collected had the CAW players not been involved.

Here’s what Del Mar Dennis had to say on X. “The CAWs most certainly did. What gives. There’s “funny business” and then there’s funny business when the winner, T.O. Elvis, drops down seven clicks as the gates open. Why? Better question, why am I and fellow fans like you still betting?”

A lot aren’t. Especially when you factor in inflation, pari-mutuel handle is plummeting in this country and the most obvious reason why is that a lot of horseplayers have simply given up, knowing that they can’t compete with the CAW players.

Unfortunately, nothing is going to change. The tracks are not going to turn down the billions in handle that comes from the CAW teams. And there are tracks, Churchill among them, that own betting outlets set up to take bets from CAW players.

But there is a cost. On the sport’s most important and visible day, the T O Elvis payoffs were a terrible look and added to the growing anger among those who just want to have a fair chance when it comes to playing the horses. T O Elvis won, but the sport lost as his win no doubt led to more customers deciding that they are done with this game.

Rookie right-hander Elmer Rodríguez, just days after making his MLB debut with the Yankees, had another memorable moment Saturday, as two of his cousins rode in the Kentucky Derby and finished first and second.

José Ortiz took Golden Tempo to the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs, with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard favorite Renegade finishing second.

Rodríguez, who is set to make his second start for the Yankees on Tuesday against the Rangers, said he watched the race alone and was “more nervous watching that race than [in] my debut. I don’t know why. I started crying.”

Rodríguez, a 22-year-old right-hander, said he saw Irad Ortiz ride Renegade on Feb. 7 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Rodríguez, who allowed two runs in four innings in a loss to Texas on Wednesday, likely won’t be with the Yankees for long, as Carlos Rodón is expected to return from elbow surgery after one more rehab start in the minors.

But he expects to have gained something from his first outing.

“You take all the good and bad and learn from it,” the right-hander said. “The first one feels like the toughest one. I’m more comfortable now.”