Request By:
Hon. Stephen L. Miller
Attorney at Law
127 North Thomas Street
P. O. Box 205
Owenton, Kentucky 40359
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Walter C. Herdman, Asst. Deputy Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of September 16 in which you raise a question on behalf of the Owen County Board of Elections with respect to the alteration of precinct lines in conformance with a proposed redistricting plan for magisterial districts. You relate the following facts and question:
My particular question has arisen in that Owen County has recently proposed a redistricting plan for its magisterial districts. In the past, three precincts voted in the Owen County Courthouse, these precincts being North Owenton, South Owenton and Owenton, Inc.
Under the new district plan, the City of Owenton and some outlying areas will constitute one magisterial district. In light of this proposed change, the members of the County Board of Elections are concerned about the continuation of voting more than one precinct in the Courthouse building. My specific inquiry is as follows:
"Is Kentucky law violated when voting the polling area is located outside of the physical boundaries of the precinct? "
The redistricting act passed at the 1982 session of the legislature, namely KRS 67.045(6), provides in effect that precinct lines shall be redrawn when necessary in accordance with the provisions of KRS 117.055, however, no precinct shall be in more than one district. This provision simply reiterates the restriction found in KRS 117.055 prohibiting, in effect, a precinct line crossing or bysecting a magisterial district which is the smallest political territory within a county's boundaries as defined therein. This latter statute further provides and we quote:
"The political territory having the least area within the county's boundaries, with the exception of the total area of a city or town contained within such boundaries, shall be designated an election precinct. The statute also provides the following:
The county board of elections shall have authority to draw precinct lines so as to allow more than one precinct to vote in one location." (Emphasis added.)
KRS 117.065 requires the county board to establish a voting place for each precinct (not in, as formerly required). Reading this provision together with those referred to under KRS 117.055, a location of one voting place in the city to serve several adjacent precincts would be perfectly proper so long as the actual voting would be held in separate rooms for each precinct. You will note that city boundaries are made an exception as pointed out in KRS 117.055 and may contain a number of precincts so long as they do not bisect a magisterial district line.
Thus, since the new districting plan includes the city of Owenton, plus some additional area within the magisterial district, and since the city can divide its area into a number of precincts, the board could establish one voting place similar to where it was in the past (the courthouse) , or any other location that is reasonably close to the precinct lines, where the voters of all such precinct can vote. We are enclosing a copy of OAG 77-554 relating to this subject.