McGrath leads Senate primary race in Woodford with last-few-days absentee ballots still to be counted

McConnell, McGrath and Booker (CNN image)

Amy McGrath of Georgetown appears to have won Woodford County in her bid for the Democratic nomination to face Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Counting all ballots received through Tuesday, County Clerk Sandy Jones said McGrath has 2,180 votes, just over half the total, to 1,424 for state Rep. Charles Booker of Louisville, 319 for Lincoln County farmer Mike Broihier and 76 for former state auditor Mary Ann Tobin of Irvington, who ran a limited campaign.

Woodford was one of the few counties to report all votes received and counted so far. Fayette and many other counties are not releasing results until Tuesday, June 30, though a state law requires results of each precinct to be posted at the polling place. Most counties had only one place for in-person voting Tuesday, and also offered absentee voting by machine.

"These totals include all absentees that were received through yesterday, June 23, mailed ballots and in-person voting," Jones said in an email. "By order, we are to continue to count all absentee ballots that are postmarked June 23 up to and including Saturday, June 27. There is also a subsequent addition to totals that will be added with a deadline of Monday, June 29 at 4:30 that includes all ballots that have been cured." She said she had issued 7,475 absentees and had counted 6,878 through Wednesday.

The State Board of Elections, chaired by Ben Chandler of Versailles, says it will release the final totals on Tuesday, June 30.

Many counties released Tuesday's in-person vote, some added the early machine absentees and a few, like Woodford, released all votes received and counted. The Associated Press gives McGrath 28,238 votes, or 43.9%; Booker 24,172, or 37.6%; and Broihier 3,981, or 6.2%. AP estimates that one-third of the expected vote has been counted, but that seems unlikely because more than 880,000 absentee ballots were mailed out. The Washington Post estimates that only 10 percent has been counted. Its statewide count has McGrath with 24,837 votes, or 44.7%; Booker with 21,405, or 38.5%; and Broihier with 3,165, 5.7%.