Request By:
Honorable John R. Cox
Attorney at Law
316 East Main
P.O. Box 9
Morehead, Kentucky 40351
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of February 22 in which you raise the following questions:
"Under KRS 25.700, would it be proper for commissioners appointed to reapportion the county to make recommendations to the County Judge for a new district whose boundaries cross existing precinct lines, and in addition cross existing magisterial district lines?
"My second question is this; if the County Judge accepts the recommendation of the commissioners appointed to reapportion the county, is the county Board of Elections under any obligation to adjust the existing precinct lines to coincide with the new magisterial district lines? . . ."
In response to your initial question, you will note that KRS 25.700 provides that no boundary of a magisterial district shall cross the boundary line of an election precinct. On the other hand, in redistricting magisterial districts the commission may rearrange the present magisterial districts to conform with the equal population requirement under the "one man, one vote" principle regardless of previously established lines.
In connection with your second question you refer to OAG 75-544 in which we construed KRS 117.055 as not requiring the county board of elections to change precinct boundary lines to conform with magisterial district lines. However, the 1976 General Assembly amended KRS 117.055 to read in part as follows:
"(1) Each county shall be divided into election precincts. The political territory having the least area within the county's boundaries, with the exception of the total area of a city or town contained within such boundaries, shall be designated an election precinct. Each election precinct shall be composed of contiguous and, as nearly as practicable, compact areas having clearly definable boundaries and wholly contained within any larger district. . . ." (Emphasis added).
The above quoted amendment would appear to require the county board of elections to divide the precincts throughout the county so as to coincide with the county's magisterial districts which represent political subdivisions of the least area in the county, except that of cities.
In view of the '76 amendment to KRS 117.055 and the requirement that magisterial district lines shall not bisect precinct lines found under KRS 25.700, it would appear that the reapportionment commissioners and the county board of elections should make a concerted effort to see that precinct boundary lines and magisterial boundary lines comply with the respective statutes.
It is, of course, easier for the county board of elections to bring the precinct lines into harmony with the magisterial district lines since changes in precinct lines may be done at any time not less than 55 days before a primary or general election, whereas the magisterial district lines can only be reapportioned once every four years. Aside from this fact, the magisterial boundary lines must comply with the equal population factor under the "one man, one vote" rule. As a consequence, it would be easier for the county board of elections to change the precinct lines so as to coincide with the magisterial district lines after the county has been reapportioned.
In view of the '76 amendment, OAG 74-544 is modified accordingly.