Request By:
Mr. Eddie Paul Coop
Rt. 4 B - 540
Albany, Kentucky 42602
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of recent date in which you seek advice as to the proper position on the November ballot for an independent candidate for the office of magistrate.
Initially referring to KRS 118.215, you will note that in determining which of the two major parties is to be listed first, provision is made that precedence is to be given to the party that polled the highest number of votes at the preceding election for presidential electors. This means, of course, that the Democratic nominees will be listed first, followed by the Republican nominees. Thereafter, all independent parties are to be listed in the order in which they draw, which means, according to the information you have submitted, that you will be listed in the third column parallel to the Democratic and Republican nominees for magistrate as indicated on the chart you have drawn.
You next relate that you are running without party affiliation and do not desire to have indicated on the ballot above your name any independent party designation or symbol; only the heading "No Political Preference" or "Uncommitted."
You may at your option designate, pursuant to KRS 118.215, an independent party and symbol, but you are not required to do this. On the other hand, if you desire not to indicate an independent party or symbol, the statute requires that the word "Independent" be listed at the top of your column. For your information subsection (2) of KRS 118.215 reads in part as follows:
"(2) All independent candidates whose nominating petitions are filed with the county clerk shall be listed under the title and device designated by them, or if none is designated, under the word 'independent'. The order in which independent candidates shall appear on the ballot shall be determined by lot by the county clerk. . . ." (Emphasis added).