Request By:
Mr. Joseph H. Lyons
P.O. Box 835
Pikeville, Kentucky 41501
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 18 in which you raise the following questions with respect to KRS 89.610:
"Question: What is the meaning of 'regular election' ?
"Question: Whose responsibility is it that the Petition is placed on the ballot?
"Question: If not placed on the ballot, what is the corrective step that may be taken?"
KRS 89.610 relates to initiative questions that may require their submission to the voters of a city operating under the city manager form of government. When submission is required under this statute, the proposed ordinance must be submitted at the next regular election.
Your initial question concerns the meaning of the phrase "regular election" . The term "regular election" means the November election. As a matter of fact, no public question or election of public officers can be held at any time other than the November election [with certain exceptions not applicable here] in view of the requirements of Section 148 of the Kentucky Constitution. This section provides that there shall not be more than one (1) election held each year in this state or in any city or county except as otherwise provided in the Constitution, and such election shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. As we said, public questions are included under this section of the Constitution as held in the case of
Morgan v. Goode, 151 Ky. 284, 152 S.W. 584 (1912). See also the case of
Ginsburg v. Giles, 254 Ky. 720, 72 S.W.2d 438 (1934), in which the Supreme Court declared that all elections must be held at the regular November election with four (4) exceptions which are: local option elections, filling of vacancies in the General Assembly, elections for school trustees, and questions concerning county indebtedness.
Under the circumstances, any initiative question submitted to the voters pursuant to KRS 89.610 must be submitted at the next regular November election of which there is one each year.
In response to your second question, the city commission would be responsible for notifying the county clerk concerning the initiative question required to be submitted to the electorate and the clerk, in turn, would be required to place the question on the ballot, since he is responsible for preparing the voting machines for every election held within the county, which includes of course the arrangement of the ballot labels on the machine. See KRS 117.155.
Our response to your third question would be that if the question is not placed on the ballot when so required under the provisions of KRS 89.610, any citizen could seek a mandatory injunction in circuit court to require compliance.