The 2024 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award® will be presented to Kentucky Secretary of State Michael G. Adams (R) for expanding voting rights and standing up for free and fair elections despite party opposition and death threats from election deniers.
Shortly after taking office in 2020, Adams put partisanship aside and worked with Democratic Governor Andy Beshear to facilitate safe access to the ballot during the COVID-19 pandemic – despite fierce opposition from his party and threats made to him and his staff. Adams oversaw moves to make absentee voting easier and to increase the number of in-person voting days in Kentucky, which historically had some of the most restrictive voting laws in the country.
In the wake of the bitter 2020 presidential election that tested democracy and elevated ballot access as an issue for both major political parties, Adams made ballot access expansion permanent by championing bipartisan legislation that allowed, among other things, three additional days of no excuse, in-person voting. In addition, the legislation affords due process to absentee voters whose ballots are rejected due to mismatched signatures, and it created large centers where voters from any precinct can cast their ballots. As he advocated for this legislation, Adams knew it was deeply unpopular with much of his party, but he persisted and faced primary challenges from candidates who embraced voter fraud claims. The bill made Kentucky the first state with a Republican-controlled legislature to expand voting rights in 2021, bucking the trend of more restrictive voting laws passed in the aftermath of the 2020 election and amid rampant election denialism and voter fraud claims.