Request By:
Ms. Dora N. Henry
Clerk
Estill County Court
Irvine, Kentucky 40336
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of June 30, in which you raise the following question:
"Am I required as County Clerk to have special ballots, ballot boxes and booths prepared for each election, or is a reserve voting machine sufficient?"
Our response to your question would be that a reserve machine would be sufficient and the printing of special ballots in addition thereto is not required by law. In this respect we refer you to KRS 117.215(2), which reads in part as follows:
"(2) If an emergency should arise due to the malfunction of the voting machine, the county clerk shall provide a backup voting machine or special ballots for use at the precinet and a ballot box in which to deposit the voted ballots . . . ." (Emphasis added.)
You will note from the terms of the above-quoted excerpt of the statute that it clearly provides that if an emergency arises due to the malfunction of the voting machine, the clerk has the alternative of either providing a backup voting machine or special ballots. The word "or" generally is a disjunctive participle that marks an alternative, which means that the clerk has a choice between either maintaining a backup voting machine or furnishing paper ballots, when an emergency arises.
The only other statutory provision of furnishing paper ballots involves a situation where the clerk anticipates before the election that the machine will not carry the names of all the candidates and public questions, in which case, pursuant to KRS 117.145(4) and KRS 118.215, the clerk may obtain the approval of the state board to print special ballots by so notifying the board not less than thirty-five (35) days before the general election.
In response to your other question, we have no knowledge of any clerk that routinely prepares paper ballots for each election. It is possible that the State Board of Elections may have more specific information concerning this matter.