Request By:
Honorable Robert E. Francis
Trigg County Attorney
56 Main Street, Box 607
Cadiz, Kentucky 42211
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of August 29 in which you refer to the fact that a petition for a local option election is being circulated pursuant to KRS 242.020. The question is raised as to those persons qualified to sign the petition, more particularly, the question is whether or not the phrase "constitutionally qualified voters" as used in the statute means "registered voters. "
Our response to your question would be in the affirmative and we refer you to the case of Howell v. Wilson, Ky., 371 S.W.2d 627 (1963), in whch the court declared that registration is an essential element of the terms "voter" , "legal voter" and "qualified voter. " In explaining its decision, the court had this to say:
"The cases that have discussed the words 'voter, ' or 'legal voter, ' or 'qualified voter, " in respect to whether regisration is a necessary requisite to constitute a person as such, have been varied in their holdings. The accompanying language of the particular statute in which the one or the other of these expressions appears has been held to be a decisive factor. Such a question usually arises where, as here, a statute requires that a petition calling for an election on a public question be signed by a designated number of 'voters, ' or 'legal voters, ' or 'qualified voters. '
"[1] This Court has reviewed its cases on the point and has decided that, in addition to the prescribed constitutional and statutory requirements, registration is one of the essential elements of a voter, legal voter, qualified voter, or the like. See Coffey et al. v. Anderson, Judge, etc., Ky., 371 S.W.2d 624."
See also Coffey v. Anderson, Ky., 371 S.W.2d 624 (1963).
Under the circumstances, a local option petition must be signed by voters who are duly registered and thereby presumed to be constitutionally qualified to vote. We might add that a person must be constitutionally qualified to vote under § 145 of the Constitution in order to register. See KRS 116.025 and 116.045.