Request By:
Honorable Benjamin J. Lookofsky
Graves County Attorney
Court House
Mayfield, Kentucky 42066
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of February 2 in which you request an opinion concerning the following:
"Please advise if, in counties such as Graves County where we have the commissioner from of government, and the commissioners run from within their individual districts during the primary election, can a qualified voter from another district sign the declaration papers of the prospective candidate."
In response to your question reference is made to KRS 118.125 which provides, in effect, that at the time of filing his notification and declaration paper, the candidate shall file therewith an affidavit of two (2) reputable electors who are members of the party to which the candidate belongs. The state board of elections has promulgated a form in compliance with this filing statute.
KRS 118.125 does not, however, require that the electors reside within the county or district from which the candidate runs or state they intend to vote for the candidate as is required in the case of independent candidates filing under the petition statute, namely KRS 118.315. Also, of note by way of contrast is the requirement for filing by judicial candidates in the primary that the electors signing the petition be from the district or circuit from which the candidate seeks nomination. See KRS 118A.060 (3).
The Court of Appeals toached on this question by the way of dictum in the case of Brown v. Read, 311 Ky. 104, 223 S.W.2d 592 (1949), wherein it said that:
"The statute does not say that the affidavit must be signed by an elector of the justice's district."
In view of the foregoing, and particularly the court's statement quoted above, we are of the opinion that it is not necessary for the elector executing the affidavit to be a resident of the district in which the candidate is running. However, since this question has not been directly before the court and thus would be subject to litigation, it would seem to be a better policy for the candidate to obtain the signatures of two (2) electors within his district.