By Linda Blackford | Editor
Happy Monday, happy November, and happy our long national nightmare of campaign advertising is almost over to those who celebrate. It’s the day before the election, and to start off , we have a palate cleanser for you from Liam Niemeyer about a very strange pipeline project in Western Kentucky that seems to be making many people unhappy.
If you’re an election junkie, not to worry, we have two stories from our national desk on the state of early voting (encouraging) and the overall tone of our elections in the last few weeks (distinctly discouraging).
In Commentary, Al Cross looks at the Kentucky races from the perspective of a state whose love for Donald Trump appears to be waning.
If you didn’t vote early, do you have a plan for Election Day? Come visit us Election night to get all the results and analysis. You can find us on our website www.kentuckylantern.com, on Bluesky @kentuckylantern.com , on Facebook, and on Instagram @kentuckylantern. See you then!
An image showing the proposed natural gas pipeline route through Greg Davenport’s family farm in Christian County. Much of the proposed route follows along Interstate 24 in Western Kentucky. (Screenshot/Court exhibit)
By Liam Niemeyer
Greg Davenport says he’s not opposed to progress. But he has serious misgivings when it comes to a proposed 16-inch natural gas pipeline that a public agency wants to run through his family’s Christian County farm, property his family has owned since the 1940s.
Voters line up to vote early Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, at the MAC Center in Edmond, Oklahoma. (Photo by Barbara Hoberock/Oklahoma Voice)
By Ariana Figuero
WASHINGTON — As of early Friday, more than 46 million Americans had cast ballots ahead of Election Day, eclipsing the early voting turnout of the 2022 midterms, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab.
King County, Washington, election workers dump out a bin full of ballots from a local drop box to sort ahead of the midterm election on Oct. 29, 2026, in Renton, Washington. (Photo by Jake Goldstein-Street/Washington State Standard)
By Ashley Murray and Jonathan Shorman
WASHINGTON — When the polls close Tuesday night, the 2026 U.S. election will go down as one of history’s most expensive and extraordinarily ugly midterms — galvanizing record-breaking early voter turnout among a deeply divided electorate.
On Thursday, the first day of early voting in Kentucky, people formed a line outside the Tates Creek Library in Lexington to make their choices. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Arden Barnes)
COMMENTARY
By Al Cross
Kentuckians are heading to the polls (no-excuse early voting was Oct. 29-31) to elect a U.S. senator, six members of the U.S. House, half the state Senate, the entire state House, many judges and local officials – and decide whether Kentucky governors should be barred from issuing pardons in the last 60 days of their terms.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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