Request By:
Mr. Sterling Kenneth Lindon
Route 1
Campton, Kentucky 41301
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of March 7 in which you present the following facts and question:
"On December 30, 1976 I accompanied Mr. J. C. Cravens of Route # Campton, Kentucky to change his voting registration from Morgan County to Wolfe County. Mr. Cravens explained to Mr. Bert Bumgardner, he had been a resident of Wolfe County (on Rose Fork) since August 29, 1974.
"The county clerk told Mr. Cravens he would have to go to the Morgan County court clerk to get his registration card before he could register to vote in Wolfe County.
"Must a voter go to the county of previous registration to get his card to present to the county court clerk, so he can register to vote? "
When a voter moves from one county to the other and presents himself to the county clerk to reregister, the clerk must register him forthwith if he is otherwise qualified. The clerk has no authority to require the individual to obtain his registration card from the county clerk of the county in which he was formerly registered, before he will allow him to register.
The clerk should, at the time he registers the individual, ask him if he has previously been registered in another county and, if he says "yes", the clerk should then not only notify the clerk of said county of the change in registration, but should also type on the registration card in the slot marked for remarks, the word "transfer" in accordance with the registration procedure adopted by the State Board of Elections.