Request By:
Mr. Jerry T. Driskill, Sr.
P.O. Box 5
Hartford, Kentucky 42347
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of July 28 in which you relate that the city council passed an enabling ordinance requiring that the city elect its officers pursuant to the city's nonpartisan primary statute, namely KRS 83A.170. You further relate that to the best of your knowledge the ordinance was duly published, thereby making it effective. Under the circumstances you raise the following questions:
"With my being the only candidate to file in the prescribed time before the primary, am I supposed to receive acknowledgment from the local election commission on candidacy after the primary? If so, they have not complied with the statute covering same."
"Does the new law preclude write-in votes in the General Election? I understand that to be a valid candidate in the General Election, one has to qualify through the primary election."
"If the above is in the affirmative, can a new slate of candidates file 55 days before the General Election, or should the County Clerk refuse to accept the filings, based on the city ordinance. "
Assuming that the city of Hartford did in fact enact an appropriate ordinance to conduct its city elections pursuant to KRS 83A.170, your name being the only candidate to file pursuant to requirements of this statute, would be the only name that could be placed on the November ballot for the office of Mayor. Thus, in answer to your initial question, the county clerk should issue you a certificate of nomination on behalf of the county board of elections as an unopposed candidate pursuant to KRS 118.185 of the general election laws which must be followed since it is consistent with KRS 83A.170(12).
In answer to your second and third questions, KRS 83A.170, by its terms, prohibits the casting of "write-in" votes for the reasons set out in OAG 81-43, copy attached. The basic reason for this exclusion is the wording of the statute which provides that no person can be elected to office in November unless he is first nominated in the special May primary. Also, because of the terms of this special statute, no one can file for city office as normally would be permitted under the general election laws, 55 days before the general election, as also pointed out in OAG 81-43.