Request By:
Honorable George G. Barry
Mayor
New Haven, Kentucky 40051
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of August 22, in which you refer to the coming election in the City of New Haven, a city of the sixth class, which involves changing its form of government from that of trustee to commission. Under the circumstances, you raise the following questions concerning candidates filing for said election:
"Is the filing deadline still 45 days before the election? Can the Mayor and four Commissioners all be listed on the same petition? Do we still file with the County Clerk? How many registered voters names do we have to have on the petition?"
In response to your questions, the deadline for filing nominating petitions under KRS 118.315 is 55 days before the November election pursuant to KRS 118.365(4). Thus, the deadline for filing such petitions would be no later than September 9, 1981.
Under the present statutes, candidates for city commission and mayor may file a single group petition pursuant to the terms of KRS 118.315 provided there are no more than four candidates for commission and one candidate for mayor listed thereon. See
Queenan v. Mimms, Ky., 283 S.W.2d 380 (1955). Though candidates can file a group petition, the present law requires the clerk when he prepares the ballot, to list all candidates for city office, irrespective of how they file, in a single, vertical column, by lot, under the office they seek, with no independent party designation or symbols. In other words, they are listed in a nonpartisan manner as prescribed by KRS 118.215(3).
Assuming that candidates wish to run as a group on a single petition, they need only obtain a minimum of twenty petitioners since these petitioners may vote for as many as four candidates for commissioner and one candidate for mayor. The petition is of course filed with the county clerk within the 55-day deadline.