Greyson Lindblom

Under a Frankfort law, which only applies to Jefferson County, elections will be nonpartisan.

The midterm elections, which have their primaries in Kentucky on Tuesday, May 19, will look different for Louisvillians than they have before. Instead of listing political parties next to people’s names for local elections, ballots will only show the names. The two candidates with the most votes will move on to the general election.

This only applies to races for the Metro Council and for mayor. All other elections — including a contest for who will be the party nominees for one of Kentucky’s U.S. Senate seats — will look the same as they have in the past. Sample ballots for every election in the country, and plenty of other information, can be found at vote.org. 

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth has assembled a voter guide containing similar information, along with candidates’ answers to questions on key issues. Craig Greenberg, Louisville’s mayor who is seeking reelection, does not have any answers listed on the site. His platforms are available on his campaign page. 

The state legislature decided this with House Bill 388 and made it only apply to Louisville. Most of the Jefferson County delegation in Frankfort voted against it. 

“We have seen [nonpartisan elections] be very successful in other communities and states,” said Gail Henson, Co-President of Louisville’s League of Women Voters chapter. “Lexington’s had them for 20 years, and that seems to be helpful for the community just to focus on issues and not on partisanship.”

This may, Henson said, give voices to people who are not in the two-party system. “So if people have registered, like a lot of young people, as an independent or a Green Party or Libertarian or some other party, they can vote,” she said. 

Before, one had to be registered as, say, a Republican if they wanted to vote in that party’s primary. Again, that party registration will still matter for state and national races. 

A poll for the 2024 election showed that a little over 8% of Manual students would vote for a third-party candidate, and those voters would have a greater say in the primaries. 

“Nonpartisan” does not mean that local political parties have been any less involved. 

The Jefferson County Republican Party announced that they are “hoping to flip three more seats on the Metro Council,” which would give them a majority after some gains in Nov. 2024. 

“When the city and the county merged 20 some-odd years ago, the decision was made by the people to have our council races be partisan,” Logan Gatti, chair of the Louisville Democratic Party, said in an interview last November. Senator Mitch McConnell pushed this decision, believing that the county would make Louisville lean Republican.

“That did not happen. It wasn’t even close to what happened,” Gatti said. “And so, when that work didn’t work out, they went to the state and the state said, ‘oh yeah, Louisville, you’re not going to do partisan races anymore.’ Of course, a majority of people from Louisville on our state delegation did not agree with that, but who cares what we say, apparently?”

The Jefferson County Republican Party did not respond to requests for comment.