Request By:
Ms. Nina Mooney
Clerk, Bullitt County Court
Shepherdsville, Kentucky 40165
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of October 19 in which you request an opinion concerning the following:
"The man is a Bullitt County Magistrate and he ran in the May 1977 Primary for Sheriff and lost the race. Now he is desiring to run as a Write-In Candidate for Magistrate. He has come to me and wants to know the procedure of having a challenger in each of his precincts in his Magisterial District."
A so-called "write-in" candidate would not be entitled to challengers at the November election as he is not a candidate within the meaning of KRS 117.315 relating to the appointment of challengers. This statute authorizes the various political parties who have nominated candidates in the primary whose names are on the ballot in November to select challengers. At the same time school board candidates and independent candidates who have filed and whose names are on the ballot are entitled to designate a challenger for each precinct.
The individual in question would not qualify as an independent candidate since he did not file a nominating petition pursuant to KRS 118.315 and within the time prescribed by KRS 118.365 and thus would not be entitled to designate challengers pursuant to KRS 117.315.