Request By:
Mr. Charles Dawson
c/o Adair County Judge's Office
Courthouse
Columbia, Kentucky 42728
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You relate that a petition has been prepared requesting a local option election in the city of Columbia and you raise the following questions:
"(1) The way the precincts are divided in Adair County there are some people who vote in a city precinct but they live outside the city limits. Would these people be allowed to vote on a city issue?
"(2) Who is responsible for designating who lives within the city limits and those who live outside the city limits? Would it be the responsibility of the county court clerk? (Refer to #1 above)
"(3) When a petition is circulated on a city issue, should the post office address be used or would it be beneficial to put the street address also?"
Our response to your initial question would be in the negative. When a precinct embraces areas outside of the city you have what is known as split precinct voting in an election where only a city question is to be voted upon. Only those voters living within the precinct that actually reside within the city limits, are entitled to vote in the city election. This excludes all persons living in the county and outside of the city but in the precinct.
In response to your second question where you have a split precinct election such as mentioned above, the registration list sent to the precinct will have to indicate by the name of each voter whether or not he is a resident of the city so that the election officers can, if necessary, lock out the machine where there are issues other than city issues upon which the voter is entitled to vote. If there are no other issues, then he must be told that he cannot vote in the election since he is not a legal resident of the city. The responsibility for indicating the residence of the voter on the registration list in the case of split precincts, primarily rests on the county clerk, however, he can request assistance in determining the exact boundaries of the city from the city officials.
In response to your third question, the local option section dealing with the petition, namely KRS 242.020, does not make any reference to the address of the voter, however, we believe the voter must indicate his address opposite his name for identification purposes that can either be his exact residence or a post office address, since such designation has been held to be directory rather than mandatory and the clerk may exercise his own discretion as to whether the designation is sufficient in order to identify the petitioner as a qualified voter. See OAG 73-681, copy attached. We believe however that it would be more beneficial as assistance to the clerk that the street address be utilized whenever possible.