Push on to legalize liquor sales on Election Day

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Some lawmakers are pressing again to overturn what they call an archaic law banning the sale of liquor during voting hours on Election Day.

Democratic state Rep. Arnold Simpson of Covington and other supports of the move are citing the economic factors.

Simpson told a legislative committee Friday that the ban is costing the state better than $600,000 a year in lost tax revenue.

Kentucky is one of the few remaining states that doesn't allow Election Day alcohol sales. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States lists South Carolina as the only other state to have such a ban.

Simpson, who has been pressing to lift Kentucky's ban since 2006, said he will introduce a bill when the legislature convenes early next year that would allow communities that object to Election Day liquor sales to continue the ban. By doing that, he's hopeful he can get more lawmakers to support changing a law that dates back to Prohibition.

"It handcuffs our businesses," Simpson told members of the Joint Committee on Licensing and Occupations on Friday. "It forces them to close or alter their operations on Election Day, two days a year, and for no good reason in my opinion."