Request By:
Mr. Ben H. Hall
Jackhorn
Kentucky 48125
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of March 30 in which you request an opinion concerning the following:
"I would like an opinion from your office regarding the following:
"KRS 124.180(1) states, 'Any person who, during an election, knowingly and wilfully removes or attempts to remove a ballot from the election room, or has in his possession outside the election room any ballot, either genuine or counterfeit, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary for not less than two (2) years nor more than five (5) years.' And
"Is a sample ballot a counterfeit ballot within the meaning of KRS 124.180."
The statute to which you refer, KRS 124.180, has been superseded by KRS 119.195 (1), which reads as follows:
"(1) Any person who, during an election, knowingly and willfully removes or attempts to remove an official ballot from the election room, or has in his possession outside the election room any official ballot, either genuine or counterfeit, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary for not less than two (2) years nor more than five (5) years."
As you know, under present law, official elections are conducted with voting machines rather than paper ballots except in certain instances where emergency paper ballots are used or where special paper ballots are authorized by the State Board of Elections. Also, of course, paper ballots are used for absentee voting. Up until 1974 sample ballots were required for instructional purposes in each precinct, however, since that time there is no statutory authorization for printing sample ballots. As a consequence, a sample ballot in the ordinary sense could not be considered a counterfeit ballot within the meaning of KRS 119.195 (4).
Under the present statute, namely KRS 119.195 quoted above, a counterfeit ballot refers to an imitation ballot substituted in the place of an official ballot such as an emergency ballot, special ballot or absentee ballot as the case may be.
Under the circumstances, a so-called sample ballot to which you refer would not be considered a counterfeit ballot within the meaning of KRS 119.195 (1).