Request By:
Mr. Roy D. Crowell
Trustee
Police and Firemens' Pension Board
Owensboro, Kentucky 42301
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: David M. Whalin, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion whether there may be absentee voting in a KRS 95.870 election and, if permitted, the governing procedures.
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that absentee voting is not permitted by KRS 95.870.
This statute states in detail the time and place for the election of pension fund trustee. The language of the statute is mandatory. In view of the explicit and mandatory language, it is evident that the General Assembly intended that members should vote "in person" and at their work station.
Traditionally in Kentucky voting "in person" is the rule. A first attempt to provide for the absentee ballot by the General Assembly was nullified by the
Court. Clerk v. Nash, 132 Ky. 594, 234 S.W. 1 (1921).
Since the General Assembly in KRS 95.870(3) states that "each member shall vote at the district or bureau of which he is a member," etc., the only permissible interpretation is that each member must vote "in person."
Absentee voting is not permitted in the election of pension fund trustee by KRS 95.870.