Trey Grayson

BOWLING GREEN -- Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R-Richwood) has been one of Governor Steve Beshear's (D-Lexington) more vocal critics in recent months. On Saturday, Grayson told PolitickerKY.com he has been encouraged to challenge Beshear when the Democrat's first term ends in 2011, and the idea does intrigue him.

"Today, already a few people have talked to me about that," said Grayson of the 2011 race, while outside of Saturday's Kentucky Republican convention in Bowling Green. "I'm not going to deny interest."

"I will figure out what the next steps are," Grayson added. "I don't have any plan, now, or any kind of timetable."

Grayson also said he would continue to "focus" on his current position.

Still, while in that position, Grayson has taken several opportunities to target the governor and his policies, adding fuel to the fire of speculation about his future.

BOWLING GREEN -- Despite some particularly visible dissent on the convention floor on Saturday, Republican Party of Kentucky leadership was not abated from approving a package of nineteen resolutions and their favored slate of at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention.

One effort by a handful of Ron Paul delegates attempting to extract one resolution for debate was beaten back from the Chair on procedural grounds during Saturday's Kentucky Republican convention in Bowling Green. Otherwise, all the resolutions recommended by the convention's Resolutions Committee passed easily by voice vote.

Prominent Republicans from mutliple levels of government are expected in Bowling Green on Saturday for the Kentucky Republican Party's annual convention, with the guest list topped by U.S. Senator Jim Bunning (R-Southgate) and U.S. Reps Geoff Davis (R-Hebron) and Hal Rogers (R-Somerset).

The Saturday convention will begin at 1pm at the Sloan Convention Center in Bowling Green. Other guests confirming their attendance at the event include state Senate President David Williams, Secretary of State Trey Grayson, and state Senator Brett Guthrie, the Republican nominee in the race for Kentucky's open 2nd Congressional District seat.

Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R-Park Hills) targeted the executive order signed by Governor Steve Beshear (D-Lexington) yesterday for not including Grayson's own office in the system for making appointments to the Executive Branch's Ethics Commission.

"While I am encouraged to see Governor Beshear's increased attention to ethics reform, I am disappointed that he did not follow recommendations made in the more comprehensive version of this legislation passed by the Kentucky State Senate," said Grayson. "As it relates to my office, the Governor should have followed the Senate's proposal to include the Secretary of State in the rotation of constitutional officers who make recommendations for appointments to the Executive Branch Ethics Commission."

The office of Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R-Park Hills) is reporting that voter turnout is slightly declining as primary election day moves forward.

Grayson's office initially estimated Democratic turnout would hit 25 to 30 percent, but actual voting numbers could fall short. 

"We are hearing the steadiness is kind of falling off," said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Les Fugate. "Its possible we may not reach those targets."

Amid numerous reports that some Kentuckians were being wrongly told they could not vote in the November general election without voting in today's primary, Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R-Park Hills) released a statement confirming this was not the case.

"According to the number and location of many calls, there appears to be a coordinated effort to spread misinformation in today's election.  If a citizen is a legitimately registered voter, his or her participation in the primary election will not affect his or her eligibility to participate in the general election.  While I encourage every citizen to vote today, it is inappropriate for people to spread these falsehoods," read the statement from Grayson's office.

According to a spokesperson from Grayson's office, the claim popped up on several radio broadcasts and was reported to the Secretary's office a sufficient amount of times to warrant a response.

The nationwide trend of increased voter registration has not avoided Kentucky, according to new figures today, although the leap in the size of the voter rolls in the Commonwealth is not as large as elsewhere.

Kentucky adds a net total of 16,333 new voters for 2008, according to release from the office of Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R-Park Hills). That figure boosts Kentucky's total registered population to an all-time high of 2,857,231.

The Secretary's office notes that is only a 0.58 percent hike from the last elections in November of 2007. Between the general election of 2006 and the 2007 state elections - which included a competitive Governor's race - there was 1.04 percent hike in the size of the voter roll.

Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R-Park Hills) will join eleven of his counterparts from the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) for a conference at Harvard University on April 29.

Grayson and his fellow Secretaries will be discussing the presidential primary process during the one-day symposium. Grayson himself chairs the NASS' Presidential Primary Subcommittee.  read more »