Request By:
Hon. Michael D. Ward
Commonwealth's Attorney
42nd Judicial District
118 East 12th Street
P.O. Box 359
Benton, Kentucky 42025
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; David H. Ashley, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested a formal opinion pursuant to KRS 15.020 with regard to the eligibility of students at Murray State University to register, and re-register in an upcoming local election.
Specifically, your question is whether or not university students may register to vote in Calloway County with the intent to cancel their registration after the election, or to re-register in their home counties. The intent of these students so registering and then cancelling registration would be to avoid paying city taxes and obtaining city vehicle stickers.
The basic law on the question of student registration in Kentucky was decided in the case Bright v. Baesler, 336 F. Supp. 527 (1971). This case, and many others from other jurisdictions, have held that a university student can establish as his legal residence the dormitory in which he resides while attending college.
Your question however, raises an additional factor, that being as to whether or not university students may "temporarily register" to vote in a particular election, and upon the re-opening of the registration books cancel their registration. We think the answer to this question is clearly no. I refer you to a letter from Mr. Herdman dated August 28, 1972 and addressed to Mr. Ron Smith of Morehead State University, a copy of which is enclosed herewith. In this letter Mr. Herdman quotes from the Bright case, supra, in which Judge Swinford indicated in his opinion that registration officials were entitled to ask students and others seeking to register and vote certain questions to determine their qualifications to establish a legal residence. The questions Judge Swinford indicated which would be proper to inquire of potential registrants were as follows:
(1) "What is your present address?"
(2) "Do you regard any other place as your home?"
(3) "Do you intend to make county your place of residence for an indefinite time or permanent period of time?"
(4) "Do you consider yourself to have permanently abandoned your former home or residence?"
(5) "Do you have no present intention to reside elsewhere or return to your former home or place of residence? "
Using Judge Swinford's suggestions as criteria for determining the residence of a potential registrant, it is clear that any person who intends to register and then cancel his registration immediately after an election is held, is not entitled to register in the first place.
In addition to the letter from Mr. Herdman addressed to Mr. Smith, we are enclosing herewith copies of additional informal opinions rendered by Mr. Herdman addressing essentially the same issue.
We trust the foregoing is responsive to your question, and that it will clarify this issue for you in the future.