Request By:
Mr. David N. Bloesing
City Administrator
227 Elm Street
Ludlow, Kentucky 41016
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of July 7, in which you relate that the City of Ludlow annexed an area that was formerly unincorporated territory in Kenton County. You further relate that the residents in this area cannot vote for members of the Ludlow City School Board since they reside outside of the city school district, even though they are now part of the city. They do, however, vote in one of the Ludlow city precincts which apparently now embraces the unincorporated territory added to the city. You add further that they also have not been permitted to vote for members of the Kenton County School Board since those candidates have not been listed on the precinct voting machines in the annexed area. Under the circumstances, you raise the following question:
"Is the county clerk required to make arrangements so that these voters can vote for school board members in their respective precincts? "
Your question involves a split precinct election where certain voters living in the school district portion of the precinct are entitled to vote for city school board members and other voters living outside the school district but also in the same precinct, are entitled to vote only for county school board members.
In a situation such as this, it is the clerk's duty to provide adequate voting facilities at the polling place to permit voting by each group of voters. In other words, the voting machine must have a lock-out feature to prevent certain voters who are not entitled to vote for certain school board candidates from doing so. Of course, separate voting machines could be utilized. This means that the registration list going to the precinct should indicate by the name of each voter the school district in which he resides so that the election officers can adjust the machine accordingly. With respect to the clerk's determining where the eligible voters live in each school district, we have suggested that the school boards themselves assist the clerk since they are in a better position to know the location of the school boundary lines.
In response to your specific question, it is in fact the basic duty of the county clerk to make the necessary arrangements so that the voters living outside the city school district, but in the city, can vote for county school board candidates.
For your information we are enclosing a copy of OAG 71-283 and 76-367 relating to this subject matter.