Request By:
Hon. Jeffrey M. Stiles
Powell County Attorney
Powell County Courthouse
P.O. Box 189
Stanton, Kentucky 40380
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Rosemary F. Center, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your recent letter in which you request an opinion regarding whether the Powell Fiscal Court may legally redraw precinct boundary lines since the written description does not correspond with the precinct map.
We direct your attention to KRS 117.056(1) which provides:
The provisions of KRS 117.055 notwithstanding, The county boards of elections shall maintain the boundaries of election precincts from July 15 of each year ending in "0" until the termination of the next following regular session of the General Assembly or until the termination of any extraordinary session of the General Assembly which enacts congressional and state legislative redistricting legislation following receipt of the decennial U.S. Census of Population, whichever shall occur at the earlier date.
Therefore, we believe the foregoing statute would prohibit the Fiscal Court from changing the present precinct boundary lines until the Kentucky General Assembly has enacted redistricting legislation. (See OAG 80-378 and OAG 80-527.) It should be noted that the County Board of Elections has the exclusive authority to alter precinct boundaries rather than the Fiscal Court. (OAG 79-298.)
We would refer you also to KRS 117.055(1) which states in pertinent part that:
A map and listing of the exact election precinct boundaries shall be filed by the county board of elections with the state board of elections, and any changes in boundaries thereafter made shall also be filed with the state board of elections. A copy of this map indicating all precinct boundaries within the county shall be included in the election supplies of each district.
Based upon our interpretation of the statute, we believe that the map is the primary document with regard to precinct boundaries and that the description refers to the boundaries as contained on the map. However, if there is a serious discrepancy this would be a factual question which this office cannot answer but would require a determination by the court.