Request By:
Honorable Harlan E. Judd, Jr.
Cumberland County Attorney
Court House
Burkesville, Kentucky 42717
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 27 in which you state that the County Judge of Cumberland County died on February 14, 1978, and raise the question as to when this vacancy must be filled under the terms of § 152 of the Constitution.
The vacancy in question must be filled at the 1978 general election since there is a Supreme Court race in the Third Supreme Court District which embraces Cumberland County. See KRS 21A.010 and KRS 21A.020. Section 152 of the Constitution requires an election to fill any vacancy in an elective office at the next regular election embracing the area in which the vacancy occurs. It is obvious that the Supreme Court race embraces Cumberland County; therefore, an election of fill the office of County Judge of Cumberland County in 1978 is mandatorily required. See Smith v. Ruth, 308 Ky. 60, 212 S.W.2d 532 (1948); and Brumleve v. Ruth, 302 Ky. 513, 195 S.W.2d 777 (1946).
We might add that federal elections do not qualify as held in the cited cases as well as others and the only other regular elections of a state or local nature in 1978 are school board elections which do not embrace the entire county and therefore could not qualify.
For your information, the deadline for filing for the office in question would be not later than March 29, 1978, and whoever is elected in November will be entitled to assume the office as soon as he receives his certificate of election and is able to qualify. See Jones v. Sizemore, 117 Ky. 810, 79 S.W. 229 (1905).