Request By:
Mr. Bremer Ehrler
Jefferson County Clerk
Court House
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
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 24 in which you seek an opinion concerning the following:
"In Jefferson County there is a person who wishes to file as a member of a political party in a Primary for the Office of Mayor of a 5th Class City.
"1) Must a Primary for this Office be held if someone wishes to file as a Democrat or Republican?
"2) If there is to be a Primary for this Office does the person file a Notification and Declaration form or a petition?"
In response to the above questions we refer you to KRS 118.105 (4), which reads as follows:
"This chapter does not apply to candidates for subdistrict school trustees, members of boards of education, members of the legislative bodies of cities of the fifth or sixth class, or presidential electors, nor to candidates for mayor, police judge or commissioner in cities of the fourth class operating under the commission form of government and in cities of the second, third or fourth class operating under the city manager form of government. "
You will note from the above quoted statute that members of the legislative bodies of cities of the fifth and sixth class are excluded from primary nomination. However, there is no such exclusion for the office of mayor of a fifth class city, and, as a consequence, a candidate for this office could legally file for party nomination in the May 24 primary.
Of course, any candidate filing for party nomination must file on a notification and declaration form prescribed by the State Board of Elections. The petition form relates only to independent candidates. See KRS 118.125 and KRS 118.315.