OAG 80-263 | KOGC

Request By:

Ms. Joan Asher Cawood
Bell County Court Clerk
P.O. Box 469
Pineville, Kentucky 40977

Opinion

Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General

This is in answer to your letter of May 9 in which you raise the question as to whether or not an individual holding the office of magistrate can at the same time serve as an election commissioner.

Our response to your question would be in the affirmative. The position of magistrate is a county office under § 99 of the Constitution. The position of election commissioner has actually never been determined though the case of

Adams v. Commonwealth, Ky., 268 S.W.2d 930 (1954), indicated it could be either a state or county office. We have generally considered it however to be a county office. See OAG 62-390.

KRS 117.035 provides in part as follows:

". . . Service on the board of elections shall be compatible with the holding of any other county office. . . ."

Neither § 165 of the Constitution nor KRS 61.080 prohibit a person from holding two county offices at the same time and, of course, KRS 117.035 specifically permits a person who holds another county office to serve on the county board of elections.

LLM Summary

In OAG 80-263, the Attorney General responded affirmatively to an inquiry about whether an individual could simultaneously hold the office of magistrate and election commissioner. The decision referenced OAG 62-390 to support the classification of the election commissioner as a county office, which is pertinent because Kentucky statutes and constitutional provisions allow an individual to hold multiple county offices concurrently.

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