Request By:
Ms. Jo Kidd, Clerk
McCreary County Court
Court House Square
Whitley City, Kentucky 42653
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of September 28 in which you raise a number of questions relating to a wet/ dry petition that is being circulated in the county.
You initially raise the question as to whether this petition is filed with you or the county judge/executive. KRS 242.020 provides that the wet/ dry election petition be filed with the county clerk. However, the delivery of such petition to the county judge who then directs the county clerk to file it in his office would be in compliance with this statute as held in the case of Morgan v. Walker, 289 Ky. 92, 158 S.W2d 5 (1941). This case declared that it was not mandatory that the petitioners actually place the petition in the hands of the clerk.
Your next two questions concern the person who is required to check or compare signatures on the petition. Or, in other words, whether such responsibility lies with the county judge/executive or you as county clerk.
We have previously held that the county judge/executive is responsible for determining whether the petition is sufficient. He can and usually does, of course, request the clerk to assist him in this respect. See OAG 80-495, copy attached.
The case of Skaggs v. Fyffe, 266 Ky. 337, 98 S.W.2d 884 (1936) declared in effect that if the county judge/executive is satisfied with the petition calling for a local option election or has personal knowledge without hearing evidence that the petitioners and signatures are whom and what they purport to be, and constitute the required percentage of voters, he is authorized to order the wet/ dry election.