♪ >> Election Day is here at last.

As candidates make their final arguments will recap what's at stake as Kentuckians go to the polls.

>> Which Bob is going to show >> for political experts talk about the state of Kentucky politics on Election Day.

We know that traumatic events can impact students overall well-being, but also their ability to learn in a school environment.

A new program KET schools in the loop when a student has problems at home.

>> Production of Kentucky Edition is made possible in part by the KET Endowment for Kentucky Productions.

Leonard Press Endowment for Public Affairs and the KET Millennium Fund.

♪ ♪ >> Good evening and welcome to Kentucky.

Addition on Election Day this Tuesday, November, the 8th.

I'm Renee Shaw.

Thank you for joining us tonight.

Dozens of races are being decided across Kentuckyian the nation today.

Polls have closed across much of the state, although voting continues into the top of the hour in western Kentucky.

There are a lot of storylines we're following.

But first, let's recap some of the high-profile decisions voters are making today.

>> The marquee matchup in Kentucky today is a race for the U.S. Senate.

Senator Rand Paul is seeking a 3rd term.

The libertarian-leaning Paul is being challenged by progressive Democrat Charles Booker, a former state legislator, Paul ramped up his campaign appearances this month but has paid little attention to Booker.

Polly even refused to attend.

Okay.

with his challenger.

The senator also relied on his massive fundraising advantage to run a series of TV ads.

Meanwhile, Booker relied mostly on social media and grassroots campaigning.

A Democrat hasn't won a Senate seat in Kentucky since 1992. when Wendell Ford won his last election.

All 5 Republican congressman in Kentucky are also up for reelection.

The long open seat is in the Democratic held 3rd district in Louisville, Democratic State Senator Morgan McGarvey is up against Republican businessman Steward Ray to replace Congressman John Yarmouth who did not seek reelection.

Perhaps the most closely watched contest is one of the proposed constitutional amendments that would state there's no constitutional right to abortion in Kentucky.

Another constitutional amendment on the ballot would among other things, allow the Senate president and House speaker to call a special session.

The power that is currently reserved only for the governor.

Republicans are expected to maintain or perhaps expand.

They're super majorities in the state House and Senate.

There are 38 Senate districts in Kentucky and Republicans currently control 30 of them.

Only the even numbered.

Senate districts are on the ballot this year of those 19 Senate races.

9 Republicans are running unopposed compared to just one Democrat in the state House.

Republicans currently at the 75 to 25 advantage.

All 100 House districts are on the ballot today with 39 Republicans running unopposed compared to 11 Democrats.

Voters are also electing 3 state Supreme Court justices and mayors in Louisville and Lexington, the secretary of state's office says roughly 330,000 people voted before today, although Kentuckians overwhelmingly vote at the polls on Election Day during this year's spring primary.

83 1% of Kentucky voters waited until Election Day to cast their ballots for KET.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

>> Thank you.

Toby is Senator Rand Paul and his wife Kelly.

Paul cast their votes in Bowling Green this morning.

They arrived to vote at Cumberland Trace Elementary School around 10 o'clock central time.

There was a bit of a wait as the Paul stood in line to receive their ballots.

Paul says he's encouraged by the activity at the polls and thanks.

Republicans will be victorious when the results come in.

>> I think there's a lot of a lot of enthusiasm.

People are excited to vote.

And the workers inside said that there's been a large numbers of voters today.

So I think it's going to be a big turnout.

I think we're going to hear pretty early on the results.

I think that there is going to be a red wave.

And I do think we're going to pick up the majority not only in the House but in the Senate and I'm excited to be part of shaping a new direction for our country.

>> Senator Paul is hosting his election night party at Bowling Green Country Club this evening.

We will take you there during our live election coverage tonight, starting at 8 Eastern 7 central.

What was Senator Paul's message as he campaigned across the state over the last few weeks.

Here's some of what he had to say starting with how he would pay for disaster relief.

>> There's a lot of money that was dispensed for COVID.

So I'm I'm sending a letter to President Biden today asking him to have a waiver so all communities can use or COVID money for disaster relief.

I think the disaster has been declared in the county that there should be more freedom for the county to use the money in any way they see fit to to get out of the disaster.

>> I'm not for sending troops to you to Ukraine for right now.

I think there has to be something has to change will be different.

So I would not vote to go to war in Ukraine.

Now I'm sympathetic to Ukraine, but I think our country is a lot of problems and that were a trillion dollars in the hole every year.

We need to take care of a lot of problems we have here at home.

If you really wanted to cleaner planet.

>> You could make the barriers to entry to nuclear power less.

I'm probably the cleanest energy.

There is hydroelectric.

We dammed up.

Most of the dams were going to build our country.

The next would be nuclear.

And we've been punishing nuclear for 50 years around and we hardly build a new nuclear plant.

Some countries have a bunch of France.

Almost all their electricity is unclear.

Sweden's about 40% nuclear and that same people who freak out about natural gas are freaked out about all forms of energy other than solar panels.

In all immigration is we have gives ability to vote.

Everybody's been here illegally.

There might be 15 million people here illegally and it would completely transform our electoral politics.

And we did that.

So we have men in favor of it.

If you talk to most people who are here, even ones who are here illegally, that many of them are good people, hard-working people.

If you ask them take a work permit.

It's really electoral politics.

It's insisting on a vote.

Most of them would like not to get a speeding ticket be sent back to Mexico.

They've been here 30 years.

Cleaning houses are some and then like a work from him.

And I I'd be I'd vote for that.

>> Senator Paul's Democratic opponent Charles Booker voted in Louisville last Thursday, the first day of no excuse early voting.

He voted with his family.

Let's look back a part of his message on the campaign trail, starting with his views on fighting crime.

>> What we need to do, it's fully fund community safety.

That means we work with law enforcement.

We work with faith leaders.

We work with philanthropy, work with business.

We work with folks on the ground to address the social determinants of health and actually invest in dealing with the root causes of crime.

And we should not have government operating as a big brother surveilling in our homes.

Certainly intruding in the uterus of the people of Kentucky to say that this person should not get health care.

Now, this is very I've traveled across the commonwealth talking to a lot of folks who don't normally tell those stories and I've heard accounts of young girls who were raped.

By their brother, even impregnated.

And the pregnancy was threatening to kill them.

A young child.

The legislation that when Paula supporting I would say that that child's life doesn't matter even if she was going to die.

The government should not be making that decision.

We need to be targeting funding into public education into areas that have been historically ignored, marginalized and even disenfranchised so that they have the resources to educate our students.

And we need to make sure that our teachers equipped and supported in educating our children the way they need, including knowing the history knowing our history so that we can win a better future together.

No more than 2 terms.

I think that's fair.

These terms in the Senate or 6 years, if you cannot go to the United States Senate in 12 years, get anything done for the people of Kentucky.

Go away.

>> We've seen so much so must visit.

So we practices that all the messages coming together on a common bond meeting, people where they are this thing.

This isn't about even ask anybody now.

It's not understand our collective these.

Our challenge is that our troops together it is at the heart of just playing a race but I think our future.

>> In October on Kentucky tonight, we discuss the 2 constitutional amendments on today's Ballot Amendment.

One would let the Kentucky General Assembly call itself into special session.

That would let lawmakers extend the session past the usual deadline.

>> This provides us very limited powers.

The speaker said to come back in special session in the last couple of years.

We've seen around the governor's exercise of emergency authority.

Lots of questions from citizens about the governor's ability to do that.

Unfettered.

We have no ability as a legislature to come back and constrain or extend power to the governor.

A lot of folks are saying, well, this is political.

It's not political.

This is something that would be able to be used by Democratic majorities.

Right now we have Republican majorities with a Democratic governor that that power is going to reside in the legislature itself.

And I argue that this goes to the basis of checks and balances.

I respectfully we I find colleague.

>> Senate Givens.

This is clearly political.

Renee, let me begin by saying this is what I'm in custody from minute.

One does is that it disrupts our entire system of government.

Let's not forget that arced are some of the governor's based on 3 Cole equal branches of government.

The legislative, the executive and the judiciary.

What customers want minute one dies.

Dist totally quit.

That imbalance there gives more power a great deal, more positive legislature.

It we can see executive.

>> Speaker of the House David Osborne disagreed about the amendment being political.

He pointed out that 2 prominent Democrats, states, Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey and House Minority Leader Joni Jenkins, both voted for it.

Governor Andy Beshear opposes amendment one.

He talked about why in a video message that he sent out 2 weeks ago.

>> It's a power grab.

This is the separation of powers that we decided on as a state part of the foundation of us as a country as well that no branch.

Too strong.

Yet the Legislature wants to give itself more power so that it could call itself into session to change an executive branch decision over the most minute.

Thanks.

>> Moving on to amendment to it would add language to the Kentucky Constitution stating that nothing in the Constitution should be construed as a right to abortion or funding for one we heard from tomorrow, we'd or a Planned Parenthood alliance advocates and a deal was center of Kentucky right to life on the matter.

So it keeps that right of abortion out of the Constitution.

Makes it clear so that allows the lawmakers to Kentucky who duly are elected to make the laws around abortion and those services and those restrictions that a company, abortion laws are the lawmakers are making those laws and policies and that the Constitution is a drug in 2 years of court battles, unnecessary, where judges are trying to and then to a right to abortion, which is happening since the row over turn.

And even with that her long, we've already had that experience right away after June 24th decision.

But what we know that, you know, the majority of Kentuckians do not want to lose access to health care, including abortion.

>> Abortion is popular.

And as I have been traveling across the commonwealth this summer, actually for the last 18 months since we've been working on this, I found abortion actually very uniting issue.

ADN.

I have sat here before and it can seem polarizing.

But when you're actually talking to Kentucky ends, they all experience is a complicated pregnancies and abortion.

And this is bringing people together in more ways than I ever thought was possible.

>> So could Kentuckians be voting in the future on a constitutional amendment?

Restoring voting rights for felons legislation has failed to get through the Kentucky General Assembly in the past.

Governor Andy Beshear took executive action in 2019, giving nonviolent felons the right to vote.

But that's not per minute advocates for felons.

Voting rights were in Frankfort last week testifying in favor of a proposed amendment.

KET is Casey Parker Bell reports.

>> While Governor Andy Beshear issued an executive order to restore the rights of some individuals, it's far from sufficient in a permanent situation determined by the legislature is needed.

Governor Andy Beshear restore voting rights for about 140,000 Kentucky felons in 2019.

>> But one governor's executive order can be removed by another.

So advocates for the restoration of voting rights for felons are pushing for a constitutional amendment to make the move permanent.

>> We would encourage that Kentucky's restoration lies.

Respect and reflect the established sentencing process of the courts by restoring the voting eligibility of any person who is team been deemed fit to return to society.

>> The pollster Robert Blizzard testified to the interim Judiciary Committee that upholds Republican voters showed 70% support putting a constitutional amendment to determine felon voting rights on the ballot.

The proposed amendment would require felons to complete probation and parole before being eligible to vote and felons convicted of treason or of crimes impacting the election would not be eligible for restoration, but some legislators questioned how to weigh the potential amendment with the protection of citizens.

Don't want to make sure if we're going to do something.

We do it correctly that we >> to the people who earned it these rights, but also make sure we're providing protection for the citizens that same time from those that might we are.

I'm still a threat to some great Greg was incarcerated on drug charges.

>> He now runs a construction business but says that he still doesn't have the right to vote.

He wants the General Assembly to consider how restoring voting rights can impact someone like him.

>> I'm doing all the right things including giving back to my community through volunteering, creating jobs, working hard to support myself, a girlfriend or 3 year-old Joe and yet continue be punished by being blocked from the voting booth.

I've done everything I can to make up for my mistakes in the past.

But now my hands are tied for Kentucky edition.

I'm Casey Parker Bell.

>> Thank you, Casey.

It's estimated there are about 200,000 Kentucky felons who do not have the right to vote.

A very spirited discussion last night on Kentucky tonight.

If you didn't see it, you need to about today's election.

Our panel discuss the big races on the ballot.

At one point, my quarter, former Democratic congressman from Louisville accused former state representative Bob, how ringer of, quote, inconsistent logic.

>> I just got to ask Bob so Samara have run.

Her experience in government is what makes you vote for.

Morgan McGarvey has experience in government.

They should vote against him.

Somebody has business experience and it makes you want to vote for him.

But somebody else who has only had a business and raise money like Craig Greenberg been very successful in.

Did you vote against him?

So Bob, which Bob is going to show My to those people have the Republicans in 2 of them have the Democrats.

And as Craig Greenberg would say, my values are different from his immediate rate ever going to vote.

>> For a man of Craig Greenberg's values who his values are up and running on abortion.

And would allow legalized abortion up to the moment of birth.

He would not draw the line anywhere.

May have shot.

Know you want to put a prosecutor and a cop in the examination room to decide if the really her life is involved in all never happened.

Well, it's going to happen in Kentucky.

>> There's more to that.

Enes was a Democratic candidate for the state House in 2019.

She said the town of politics today just as unhealthy for Kentucky or America.

>> Why would I have a good nice life?

Why would I put myself out to the type of fear and and attacked adds that the GOP uses against candidates.

I think it's a serious conversation that we need to be having not only as Kentucky ends, but as Americans that and our our politics as a whole.

We're focused on on attacking one another.

>> Well, I think that everybody agrees that the temperatures up.

I mean, whether it's Republicans, whether it's Democrats and there's always concern, right, that we need to take that just because it from its extreme is a minor sign.

So, you know, that's where we whether or we're going make any headway in this election.

I'm not so sure.

I still think the Republicans are going to pick up seats Democrats to face a problem.

>> You can see all of that spirited discussion online on-demand at KET Dot Org Slash K why tonight is one to watch.

Join us tonight at 8 Eastern 7 central for full coverage of Election Day 2022, I'll be joined by veteran political observers and Lexington, Louisville and Frankfort.

As we analyze what happened today and why that's right here on KET starting at 08:00PM Eastern.

♪ Medical news.

Kentucky's COVID positivity rate has dropped a little from last week.

It's now 8.31%, according to new numbers released by the state today, it was 9.17% just a week ago, as we told you Friday, 3 counties are back in the high category for COVID levels.

That's Harrison Robertson and Letcher counties.

The number had been 0 just a week before.

In 2019, the Kentucky General Assembly passed the School Safety and Resiliency Act which requires schools to have a trauma informed plan in place by July 2021. part of that plan known as the handle with care program sets up a notification system between schools and law enforcement for students who have then trauma exposed.

Tonight we take a look at how that program is working and how schools are responding.

>> Handle with care is a notification system to notify schools that a student may have been exposed to a traumatic event.

>> The program was started in West Virginia and it was kind of a regional program.

It was officers that would get a hold of their SRO as you get older schools if they ran into a traumatic situation, the school Safety and Resiliency Act.

>> Called for the panel care.

Not by name, but by what handle with care.

Did that?

>> School should collaborate with law enforcement for law enforcement can notify schools if there's trauma within their cause that they take, you know, away from school that way.

The school is aware and can respond in a trauma informed way to see that support the street while they're at school.

So this is one way that they can meet the requirements of the school slaying fact.

>> Ksp we how's the state's K y off system and the system is used by law enforcement agencies across the state.

So what was decided is that we would create a handle with care report with in that system.

So it would allow any law enforcement agency within the State Duma handle with care notification for the school systems.

>> All you do is put the child's name age and there there's no box for comment or narrative where you're sharing things that are personal, that the school administrators staff doesn't really need to know is just simply notifying them.

Hey, something traumatic happened this child the night before.

There could be issues in school.

It's a good way to give them a heads up that, hey, this may not just be unsolicited behavior.

We generally try to have 3 to 5 people for each school tagged with that school.

That way notification comes in.

Those are the people that receive the information.

And then at that point, based on those student needs, then they start connecting resources to the students were a larger district in the state.

We have around 10,000 students.

So on average we get between 2 and 5 notifications per week.

>> We know that traumatic events can impact students overall well-being, but also their ability to learn in a school environment.

The great thing about having the system within K Y ops, it doesn't have to be their local law enforcement agency.

If a student is involved in a law enforcement incident out of their county handle with care report carries over the school, still receive it.

>> We have 100% of the schools in the state of Kentucky that are either doing the handle with care program through the state or another program that is close to or like the handle with care programs far as impacts.

It's been very positive because the families have seen that extra level of support.

Such a simple program in the fact that we've got across state.

I'm very, very proud of the common.

I really am.

>> According to the Kentucky State Police 1269 Schools are currently registered in the handle with care program.

As of October, nearly 3500 notifications have been sent throughout the state.

♪ So a little election trivia for you today when elected officials in Kentucky assume their offices, they must swear under oath to have never participated in a duel while they may be barred from engaging in such activity doing was wants a rather acceptable practice in Kentucky society.

>> I think one thing I found interesting about the way is this how prevalent was among the upper class White Kentucky ends.

This was before the Civil War we're sort of used as a means of settling conflicts for people in the social class.

I think the fact of the fact that 2 men were actually go out to a farmer's field pace off about 30 feet and then shoot at one another with the >> pistols.

A way to settle their differences and certainly surprising.

>> I was really, really surprised by how common the practice of doing actually what it was technically illegal and so do list would go across state lines.

>> So it's not to be prosecuted by state authorities >> but in spite of its being illegal, doing socially was was pretty acceptable.

>> In those days, and gentlemen, your reputation was paramount.

>> simply took place when a man had been assaulted and it was usually an upper class white, than issue a challenge noted.

So the man had been challenge to tool with invasive.

Got to pick the time and the place than the weapon that was used in the fight.

He would then appoint a second who was a friend to help him negotiate the door and go see what those rules would be.

And so ultimately, once those rules were established, the man or the do seconds would end up going to the doing around with a doctor and any other witnesses that they wanted to bring and it can took in Kentucky deals are typically fall with pistols at about 10 paces, which is 30 seat the seconds with then measure off that distance, the 2 men would stand 30 feet apart and it simply flip a coin to determine who got the call.

The fire.

And so the second was allowed to call the fire would say fire 1, 2, 3, stop the doors could shoot at any time during that 3 0nd period.

If someone were wounded, the doors somewhat till was killed, obviously the door and as well because part of the doors to sort of have have blood sort of a cleanse, the state of honor and something stories of are typically Joyce would decide to fight at a county line that would be hard for them to be prosecuted because you can never determined.

>> You know, which which crossed your jurisdiction over the case.

>> In Lexington, for at the Fayette County, Scott County line, there was one far most frequently used as a tool in ground.

There were at least 6 doubles from there.

>> And there's one between 2 Transylvania university students in the 18 50's with a picture guns to do with it 40 yards one of the students ended up killing the other in that door.

>> We think of it as they're very barbaric and brutal kind of practice.

And yet obviously.

Gun violence is still very much an issue of concern for us today.

>> And so it's kind of an interesting.

>> Think about.

♪ ♪ >> Interesting to think about indeed.

As a reminder, we'll be back with you in about an hour for a special two-hour election program.

Will have election returns from all over the state when the federal races and the 2 constitutional amendments.

I'll be joined by a group of veteran political observers to analyze those numbers and what they mean.

So do join us for election Twenty-twenty.

2 coverage live tonight at 8 Eastern 7 central right here on KET.

>> And then we'll see you again tomorrow night at 6.30, Eastern 5.30, central for Kentucky Edition, we inform connect and inspire.

Stay tune.

Okay.

Team or the best comprehensive election coverage you can find right here in about an hour season.

♪