Request By:
Ms. Bessie Madden
120 Ohio River Road
Greenup, Kentucky 41144
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of June 25 in which you relate that you plan to file an independent petition to fill a vacancy for the unexpired term of the office of Greenup County Court Clerk [presumably that occurred less than 70 days before the primary or after the primary] and that you would like to designate as the name of your independent party either "First Party Democrat" or "People's Choice Democrat." You desire to know whether this will be legal.
We do not believe that a person filing an independent petition can use the word "Democrat" or for that matter "Republican" unless he is nominated by the party at the May primary or is selected by the party to run for the unexpired term which we understand is the case in this instance. KRS 118.215(2) authorizes independent candidates to be listed under the title and device designated by them or under the word "Independent." However, when they designate an independent party title as in this instance, it is apparently not the intent of the legislature to permit such a candidate to be listed on the ballot as a member of either of the major political parties in any manner as this would have the effect of defeating the requirement that major party candidates be nominated as we have previously indicated in order to be listed as a "Democrat" or "Republican."
Under the circumstances, we believe that you can use either the designation of "First Party" or "People's Choice" or any other appropriate designation as long as the word "Democrat" is not included. Reference OAG 67-33.