Request By:
Hon. Frank M. Gary
County Judge/Executive
Christian County Courthouse
Hopkinsville, Kentucky 42240
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of February 21 in which you raise a question concerning the wearing of campaign buttons in the voting precinct. More specifically, your question involves KRS 117.235(3) in which electioneering is defined to include the display of signs, the distribution of campaign literature, cards, or hand bills, etc. The question to resolve is whether or not campaign buttons are to be considered signs within the meaning of the referred to statute.
We find no cases construing this statute with respect to your question. The word "sign" is defined in Webster's as a publicly displayed board, placard, etc., bearing information, warning, advertising, etc. It is a general term for any indication to be perceived by the senses. Although the term "sign" used in the statute with respect to electioneering could conceivably include campaign buttons worn by individuals in the voting precints, it would appear more reasonable to assume the Legislature intended that the word "sign" refer to such items as posters, placards and billboards displayed in the polls or area within which electioneering is prohibited. We believe this construction is supported by the fact that the word "sign" is preceded in the statute by the phrase "displaying of." Words must be construed according to their common usage. KRS 446.080 and
Baker v. White, 251 Ky. 691, 65 S.W.2d 1022 (1933) and
Fanning Wholesale Co. v. Thacker, Ky. App., 661 S.W.2d 477 (1983).
Under the circumstances, we do not believe the mere wearing of a campaign button would be considered a "sign" within the meaning of the term as used in KRS 117.235, designed to prohibit electioneering at the polls.