Request By:
Mr. Charles Lenz
Main Street
Carlisle, Kentucky 40311
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of January 26 in which you refer to an individual elected to the office of jailer for a regular term beginning January 1, 1978. The individual so elected proceeded to resign from office on August 1, 1978. He now desires to run for the unexpired term of jailer at an election required to be held this November, 1979 pursuant to Constitution § 152. In the meantime another individual was appointed by the county judge/executive to fill the office until January, 1980. The question is raised as to whether or not the person initially elected for the regular four-year term, but who subsequently resigned, can now run for nomination in the May primary and, if nominated, for election in November for the unexpired term.
The answer to your question would be in the affirmative. A person elected to office may resign from office at any time and for any reason. Such resignation of itself does not in any way affect his qualifications to hold office and in this instance his right to change his mind and decide to run for the unexpired term to which he was elected.
As a consequence, the individual in question, if he is otherwise qualified, may file for nomination in the May primary or he may file as an independent for election in November for the unexpired term. Whoever is elected at the November election will go into office immediately thereafter and not in January, 1980 as your letter indicates. The individual elected, following the receipt of his certificate of election, may immediately qualify and assume the office of jailer.
A case illustrating the point we have made, but of much more serious consequence, is that of