Kentucky Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams, who labored to broaden early voting in the Bluegrass State and has spoken out versus election denialism in his individual occasion, has been preferred to acquire the John F. Kennedy Profile in Bravery Award this year.
In its announcement Monday, the JFK Library Foundation reported Adams was recognized “for expanding voting rights and standing up for free and fair elections irrespective of celebration opposition and demise threats from election deniers.”
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Adams — whose signature policy goal is to make it simple to vote and tricky to cheat — was at the forefront of a bipartisan hard work with Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear that led to the enactment of 2021 laws making it possible for for three days of no-justification, early in-individual voting — such as on a Saturday — in advance of Election Working day. Adams hailed it as Kentucky’s most important election law update in much more than a century. About one particular-fifth of the Kentuckians who voted in very last year’s statewide election did so for the duration of those three days of early, in-human being voting, Adams’ office reported Monday.
Kentucky Secretary of Condition Michael Adams speaks in the Rotunda of the point out Capitol, Jan. 2, 2024, in Frankfort, Ky. Adams, who labored to increase early voting in the Bluegrass Condition and has spoken out versus election denialism in his own bash, was decided on on Monday, May 6, to acquire the John F. Kennedy Profile in Bravery Award this yr. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
As his state’s main election officer, Adams has pushed again forcefully against untrue claims about rigged elections, referring to election skeptics as “cranks and kooks.”
“There is a large amount of irresponsible chatter out there and demagoguery about us getting hacked elections,” Adams mentioned in a 2022 job interview on Spectrum News 1. “It is all hogwash. Our elections have never been hacked and are not hacked now.”
To start with elected in 2019, Adams received reelection by a huge margin last year soon after dominating his party’s most important, which involved a challenger who promoted debunked election promises.
Adams, a Kentucky indigenous and graduate of Harvard Legislation Faculty, explained Monday that Kennedy’s “admonition to place state ahead of self continue to resonates now, and rings correct now extra than at any time.”
“I am honored to take this award on behalf of election officials and poll workers throughout The us who, encouraged by his simply call, sacrifice to retain the American experiment in self-government alive,” he added.
Adams is portion of an exertion started immediately after the final presidential election that seeks to convey jointly Republican officials who are inclined to protect the country’s election units and the people today who run them. They want officials to reinforce the concept that elections are protected and precise, which they say is in particular essential as the place heads toward another divisive presidential contest in November.
“It is an obligation on Republicans’ section to stand up for the protection of our process simply because our social gathering — there’s some blame for the place we stand appropriate now,” Adams stated a short while ago. “But it is also strategically clever for Republicans to say, ‘Hey Republicans, you can rely on this. Really don’t stay at residence.’”
For the duration of a latest campaign rally, former President Donald Trump — the presumptive Republican nominee for president this year — repeated his bogus claim that Democrats rigged the 2020 election.
Just 24% of Republicans said they experienced a excellent offer or fairly a little bit of self confidence that votes will be counted properly in the 2024 presidential election, in accordance to an Linked Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Investigation poll executed in December.
Adams is observed as a possible applicant for governor in 2027, when he and Beshear will be time period-confined in their current work.
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Honorary JFK Library Basis President Caroline Kennedy and her son, Jack Schlossberg, will present the award to Adams on June 9 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.
President Kennedy’s e book, “Profiles in Courage,” recounts the tales of 8 U.S. senators who risked their occupations by taking principled stands for unpopular positions. Past winners of the Profile in Bravery Award consist of former U.S. presidents Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama.
