Request By:
Mr. C. S. Wagers
County Clerk
Richmond, Kentucky 40475
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of July 7 in which you refer to the possibility of having two or more "write-in" candidates for public office at the coming general election. The question is raised as to whether or not the election officers are required, pursuant to KRS 117.255, to assist a person who is unable to read and write in casting his "write-in" vote by writing in the name of the candidate of his choice.
Our response to your question would be in the affirmative. KRS 117.255 provides, in effect, that upon a voter taking the oath that he is illiterate or physically disabled, he is to retire to the voting machine, with the judges, and one of the judges shall then, in the presence of the other and the voter, operate the machine as the voter directs. There is no specific provision under this statute relating to voting machines concerning the casting of "write-in" votes by these types of voters. There is a case concerning the casting of "write-in" votes in connection with paper ballots which holds that the election clerk may "write-in" the name of a person whose name is not printed on the ballot, if the voter indicates his desire to vote for such person and has taken the oath required under KRS 118.300 [now KRS 117.255] to the effect that he is illiterate. See
Hall v. Sumner, 194 Ky. 1, 238 S.W. 197 (1922).
The rules laid down in the Hall case, supra, would, we believe, apply in connection with assistance that may be given an illiterate voter in casting a "write-in" vote on a voting machine, except that instead of the clerk giving the assistance, one of the judges, in the presence of the other, would write in the candidate's name designated by the voter. This rule, we believe, would also apply regardless of whether or not the voter is illiterate, blind or incapacitated since there is no distinction made with respect to these types of voters under KRS 117.255. Reference OAG 65-533.