Request By:
Honorable William T. Walton
Attorney at Law
105 Main Cross Street
Flemingsburg, Kentucky 41041
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of August 19 in which you desire to know whether or not an individual is eligible to run for the Flemingsburg City Council where he has been a resident of the city for approximately one and one-half months and has recently transferred his voting registration from the county precinct to one of the three precincts within the city which is not divided into wards.
KRS 86.050 provides that each member of the council in cities of the fourth class, to which Flemingsburg belongs, shall be a qualified voter in the city unless the city is divided into wards, in which case he must have resided within the ward from which he runs six (6) months prior to the election. This statute simply requires a person to be a legally registered voter in the city in order to hold the office of city council.
KRS 116.045 (1) provides, in effect, that any person may register as a voter during the period registration is open if he possesses, or will possess on the day of the next regular election, the qualifications set forth in KRS 116.025. KRS 116.025 (1) provides, in effect, that every person who is a resident of this state and has resided in the precinct in which he offers to vote 30 days next preceding the day of any regular or special election, and who is registered, may vote.
It is thus clear from the facts presented that the individual in question possesses the residential qualifications to hold the office of city council by reason of his taking up legal residence within the city and registering to vote in the city more than thirty (30) days prior to the election thereby becoming a qualified voter within the meaning of KRS 86.050.
We might add that residential qualifications vary according to the class of city. For example, there is a one (1) year residency requirement under fifth and sixth class city law and a two (2) year residency requirement in cities of the second and third classes.