Novermber District 36 Newsletter: Voting locations, ballot measures, road news, and more

John Hodgson

State Representative

District 36 Newsletter

November 2024

Hello John ,

OK, I know it is not quite November yet... but VOTING STARTS Oct 31, on Halloween, first time ever.

You can vote early, in person, with ID, on 100% paper ballots, at 3 places near District 36:

Berrytown Recreation Center

1300 Heafer Rd., 40223

Triple Crown Pavilion

1780 Plantside Dr., 40299

The Jeffersonian

10617 Taylorsville Rd., 40299

Full Early Vote location list here.

On Election Day, Nov 5, vote near your neighborhood, check locations here.

KY has vastly improved Election laws since 2020:

486,673 people have been removed from voter rolls for being dead, moved, in prison, or otherwise ineligible to vote.
ID is required to get your paper ballot - KY has 100% paper ballot voting now.
Once you vote, your paper ballot will be stored in a locked, sealed, container with 24 hr video monitoring until 6PM on election day. (It is a felony to connect ballot tabulators to the internet), no early tabulation of results allowed.
After the polls close, pollworkers from opposing parties will print precinct level vote totals in each race, sign them, and post them on the door of the precinct for the public, before reporting them to the County Clerk.
The Clerk will aggregate totals, print results, and transmit over a secure state network (NOT to outside entities) for UNOFFICIAL election night reporting.
In a public process, Counties officially certify their results 11/18, the State certifies 11/25. Then the Attorney General does a post election random audit in 12 counties, and County Clerks will randomly do a publicly witnessed, hand-to-eye recount process on a random tabulator in each county to ensure there was no electronic tampering (new, from my HB53 law).

We will continue to improve the election laws and procedures, but with power and influence at stake, people will always try to cheat; I think we have plugged all the significant vulnerabilities we are aware of in KY with the laws in place this year.

Individual voter-level election integrity still relies on the sworn Election Workers at every poll.

See something fishy the local officials cannot resolve? Report it to the Attorney General:

Kentuckians who witness election irregularities or possible election law violations are encouraged to call 800-328-VOTE (800-328-8683).

The hotline is open during regular business hours and from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (Eastern time) on Election Day.

Millions have died to preserve your right to vote in our free Republic, please use that gift!

District 36 Road & Traffic Plans

ROAD CONSTRUCTION PROJECT UPDATES

IMove I64 Interchange https://i-moveky.com/ Project is close to completion, on track to complete this winter. The barrels and lane dividers still require a lot of alert driving, and the new lighting is not fully functional, so please use extra caution in the area as the sun is setting earlier and it gets harder to see.
US 60 Gilliland intersection Project 5-8952 : Utility relocation (complicated) will take until 2026, with construction starting afterward. The new intersection will square up with Shelbyville road, and eventually get a light.
Widening KY 155 (Taylorsville Road) to 4 lanes with a center turn lane or raised median from I-265 to KY-148: Working on master plans for the remainder of 2024. Right-of-Way Phase 2025, Utility Phase late 2025. Construction Phase: 2026-7. https://transportation.ky.gov/DistrictFive/Pages/Jefferson-County-Widening-KY-155-Taylorsville-Road-Project-05-8908.aspx
Billtown Rd improvements on three sections of KY 1819/Billtown Road. The project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2025.
N English Station Widening Project: utility relocation are pacing the project, will continue into 2026. KYTC anticipates awarding bids for the project construction in the fall of 2026, with construction work between 2027 and 2028.
I64 Interchange Study: The Planning study and recommended alternative will be completed in the Fall of 2024. Basically this study is just to come up with a final plan and cost estimate to be considered in future budgets. I do not expect dirt to move for 6+ years, maybe longer.
Old Henry Expansion Looks absolutely great! Fully open now.

We have so much road construction funded and planned for Jefferson County in the next 6 years; the biggest problems are going to be competition for scarce labor, building materials, and equipment. I wish we could make the process go faster, but it is going!

Help Louisville Metro fix potholes by reporting online!

The Road Plan includes these District 36 projects in the 2025-26 budget cycle and 6 year plan:

Gilliland Rd intersection at US 60
KY 155 widening from I265 to Fisherville
Johnson Road plan for reconstruction
US 60 widening to 6 lanes in Middletown
KY 155 widening from Fisherville to Spencer Co
KY 1819/Billtown Rd reconstruction
Eastwood-Fisherville I64 exit & Connector road study
I 265 pavement improvements
KY 1819 pavement improvements
Plantside Dr/Rehl Rd Extension to Taylorsville Rd
KY1819/Watterson Trail reconstruction
Clark Station bridge repairs

Constitutional Minute

The Electoral College - National Voting Champs for 232 years!

Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution defines the "Electoral College". We do not directly elect the US President with a popular vote. The Founders were very concerned in 1791 that the more populous states like Virginia and NY would run right over the smaller states, and dominate all national politics.

The 1776 Declaration of Independence said all 13 former colonies were "free and independent states" and they were not going to sign on to a Constitution that did not preserve their State sovereignty! Benjamin Franklin and 5 others who signed the 1776 Declaration also signed the 1791 Constitution, ensuring a continuity of ideas. [The Declaration is still the permanent Organic Law of the United States, and is in US Code, Volume 1]

Each State gets a number of "Electors" equal to the number of Senators and Representatives they have (KY gets 8), and in 48 states whatever candidate wins the popular vote in a state gets all the electoral votes from that state.

The Electors meet in all 50 states on Dec 14 this year to vote, and those votes will be officially counted before Joint Session of Congress on Jan 6, 2025. If somehow one candidate does not get a majority (as in 1801 and 1825), the House of Representatives immediately votes with one vote per state for who will be President. The the winner inaugurated Jan 20.

The Electoral College part of the Constitution is often debated, but it is essential for preserving the voice of the smaller states like KY in national elections. See the map below - 142 counties in the US contain over half the population, out-voting the other 3001 counties. Without the Electoral College, big cities in CA, NY, FL and TX would essentially elect all our presidents, leaving KY and other small states on the sidelines and at their mercy for national policy. Even so, all our top ranking candidates are usually from those 4 states, and the Electoral College forces them to notice people in "fly-over country" like Kentucky. The Founders got it right!

Liberty is a team sport: make sure you are participating!

Legislative Update

2025 Bill Ideas

This time of year, all the bills we passed have become law, and we are looking at potential legislation for 2025.

Here are a few of the bills I am most interested in:

Income Tax Cut - The state has met the financial metrics to vote to decrease the individual income tax from 4% to 3.5% starting in Jan 2026, and that will likely be one of our early votes.

Electronic Privacy - I plan to try again with my collection of Privacy bills that passed the House last year (HB45), regarding drones, trackers, license plate reader data, and malicious use of AI Deepfakes.

Election Integrity - We have greatly improved KY's election integrity laws, with my HB44 (voter rolls) and HB53 (audits), but there is always more work to do, because people will always look for new ways to cheat. We will have a group working on a "continuous improvement" bill to close any vulnerabilities we find.

Geoengineering Ban - governments are actually proposing trying to modify the earth's weather by injecting dangerous toxins into the upper atmosphere, and other "fringe science" ideas. Most people think this is irresponsible and dangerous, and we need to ban it in the skies over KY like TN did this year.

Kentucky Sovereignty - there are several topics of concern with the Federal government or foreign governments or foreign citizens reaching into our KY affairs, and we will look to make that explicitly illegal, relying on the 9th and 10th Amendment protections of the Constitution.

Preventing Social Media Censorship - this has been a hot topic since 2020, and we need to find a way to prevent the government from colluding with social media companies to suppress 1st Amendment expression.

More to come... Email me with your ideas of things we need to address.

My focus is on protecting people FROM the government, vs growing the government.

Less government = more freedom, and lower taxes.

My 4 Committee assignments are:

Elections & Constitutional Amendments
State Government
Transportation
Information Technology Oversight Committee (House Co-Chair)

Watch live internet video of the session and committees on this KET link.

I welcome your input and perspective on legislative issues (online form here).

My office number is 351D in the Capitol Annex.

Office phone is 502-564-8100.

State email is John.Hodgson@lrc.ky.gov

I will do my best to answer your questions and consider your input on District 36 issues if you would like to contact me.

In Case You Missed It:

Here are some links to my key bills from the recent Session -

The Budget bills
The Road Plan
Summary listing of all the budget items.
Safer Kentucky Act HB5
Fire District required notifications HB43 p
Voter roll cleanup Bill HB44 watch video here.
Post-election "eyeball" audits HB53 watch video here.

Let's protect faith, family, and freedom in KY - Liberty is a team sport!

Political Happenings in Dist 36

Amendments and Judges on the Ballot (and your State Rep!)

I am on your ballot this November (yes, every 2 years!) If you have read this far, you know what I have been accomplishing these last 2 years, and I hope I have earned your vote to keep doing the work I am doing for District 36 and KY.

More importantly, There are 2 KY Constitutional Amendments on the ballot, and both came through my Committee in Frankfort to be approved for putting them up for your vote. It helps to read and understand them in advance,vs in the voting booth!

Amendment 1: Only Citizens can vote

This seems like a common sense measure, but the amendment will make it crystal clear, and make it harder for some political faction to change in the future. I am a 100% YES on this one, as are most people I have talked to.

Amendment 2: Allowing School Choice

My interview on 840 WHAS listen here

This is probably the most hotly contested issue on the ballot. Parents and fans of small government tend to be in favor of it, and School Administrators, boards, and teacher union reps are leading the fight against it, as they consider it a threat to their economic interests (but I do not think it is).

48 other states have some form of School Choice, and the KY School system is lagging almost the whole country in performance. I have studied the issue for years, and it improves the performance of both public and private schools in almost every state where it is used.

Maybe since KY is ranked towards the bottom of the nation, we should try something that is helping the other states out-perform us? This amendment only provides "Constitutional permission" to negotiate and pass future laws on school choice options starting next year, it does not embody a specific law or plan. I am 100% YES on School Choice Amendment.

Judge Races: we have one special election on our ballot for a Jefferson County Family Court Judge. I have gotten to know Zack McKee from talking to him in depth at many, many candidate forums in the last 3 years. After growing up in rural Paris, KY, he attended college and law school and has dedicated his career to helping abused and neglected children. While judge candidates usually will not overtly communicate their political/policy positions, he seems to me to have more conservative and family oriented background and values than the other two candidates.He is also a warm and personable guy, and I plan to vote for him.

Last Notes and Resources

School Group Touring the Capitol? See my intro video here.

Archived Recent Newsletters:

Oct 2024 - 2025 preview, Bigelow plant, road news,

Sept 2024 - Amendments on the ballot, road projects, legislation

August 2024 - road project updates, healthcare related new laws,

July 2024 - Budget bills, Shelbyville road plans, legislation taking effect July 15

June 2024 - Road plans, legislation affecting veterans and safety

May 2024 - Veto overrides, session recap, road budget/plan

April 2024 - Session, budget, road bills

March 2024 - mid-session update, Senate Vacancy bill

Feb 2024 - Session update, road budget, City of Eastwood?