Request By:
Mr. Calvin Wills
302 Douglas Court
Carlisle, Kentucky 40311
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 16 in which you refer to the fact that you are a rural mail carrier subject to the Federal Hatch Act but would like to become a candidate for the office of county court clerk of Nicholas County. You are aware of the fact that the present Hatch Act prohibits a federal employe from becoming a candidate in a partisan election, however, you enclosed a copy of H.R. 10, which is a bill in Congress proposing an amendment to the Hatch Act to permit a federal employe to become a candidate for any public office. The problem is that this bill will not, in all probability, be enacted before the May primary filing deadline, which is March 30. Under the circumstances, you desire to know if you could file as an independent for the office in question after the primary election.
The answer to your question would be in the negative. Any individual that is otherwise qualified, may run as an independent candidate for any public office, including that of county clerk, however, the petition that he is required to file, pursuant to KRS 118.315, must be filed by the same deadline as required of party candidates for the May primary, which is March 30. In this respect we refer you to KRS 118.365(3), which reads as follows:
"Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, petitions and certificates of nomination, when required to be filed with the secretary of state, shall be filed not less than fifty-five (55) days before the day fixed by law for the holding of primary elections. When required to be filed with the county court clerk, they shall be filed not less than fifty-five (55) days before the day fixed by law for holding of primary elections. " (Emphasis added).
The preprimary filing deadline for independent candidates above referred to was declared constitutional in the case of
Pratt v. Baesler, 409 U.S. 943, 34 L. Ed. 2d 214 (1970).
Thus, the only avenue that is open for you under the related facts would be to run as a "write-in" candidate in the November election.