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--- version:Introduced+++ version:(document, no version)@@ -1,168 +1,71 @@-UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 2183-Page 1 of 6-XXXX 2/16/2026 2:55 PM Jacketed-AN ACT relating to election officers. 1-Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2-Section 1. KRS 117.045 is amended to read as follows: 3-(1) (a) The county board of elections shall in the manner prescribed by this section, 4-not later than March 20 each year, except in a year in which no primary and 5-regular elections are scheduled, appoint for ea ch precinct in the county two 6-(2) judges, one (1) clerk and one (1) sheriff of election. They shall serve in all 7-elections held in the county during the year, except for minors seventeen (17) 8-years of age who will become eighteen (18) years of age on or be fore the day 9-of the regular election who may only serve as election officers for the primary 10-and regular elections as provided in subsection (9) of this section. 11-(b) If a special election is ordered to be held in a year in which no elections are 12-scheduled, the county executive committee of each political party in each 13-county in the territory affected by the special election shall, not later than 14-twenty-eight (28) days preceding the date of the special election, submit a 15-written list of nominees for precinct election officers to serve in the special 16-election in a manner consistent with the provisions of subsection (2) of this 17-section. The county board of elections in each county in the territory affected 18-by the special election shall, not later than twenty -one (21) days preceding the 19-date of the special election, appoint precinct election officers to serve in the 20-special election in a manner consistent with the provisions of subsections (4), 21-(5), and (6) of this section. 22-(c) The State Board of Elections shall promulgate an administrative regulation 23-under KRS Chapter 13A establishing evaluation procedures which county 24-boards of elections may use to qualify persons nominated to serve as precinct 25-election officers. 26-(2) The county executive committees of the two (2) political parties having 27-UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 2183-Page 2 of 6-XXXX 2/16/2026 2:55 PM Jacketed-representation on the State Board of Elections may, on or before March 15 each 1-year, designate in writing to the county board of elections a list of not less than four 2-(4) names for ea ch precinct; except that, in any precinct where there are not as 3-many as four (4) persons possessing the qualifications of an election officer 4-belonging to the political party filing the list, or when the State Board of Elections 5-has approved a county boar d of elections' precinct consolidation plan requesting a 6-lesser number of precinct officers, a lesser number may be designated. If there are 7-two (2) or more contending executive committees of the same party in any county, 8-the one recognized by the written certificate of the chair of the state central 9-committee of the party shall be the one authorized to submit the lists. The lists shall 10-contain the full name, address, phone number, and Social Security number, if 11-available, of each person listed. The lists s hall be accompanied by a signed 12-statement from each person stating that he or she is willing to serve, has not failed 13-to serve without excuse in the past, and has not been convicted of an election law 14-offense or any felony, unless the person's civil rights have been restored by the 15-Governor. The State Board of Elections shall prescribe the form of the list by 16-administrative regulation promulgated under KRS Chapter 13A. 17-(3) The Attorney General shall notify each party state central committee of the duties 18-of the party. 19-(4) (a) If lists are submitted by the county executive committees under subsection (2) 20-of this section, the county board of elections shall select one (1) judge at each 21-voting place from each political party's list, and the county board shall s elect 22-the sheriff from one (1) political party's list and the clerk from the other. 23-(b) If no lists are submitted by the county executive committees under subsection 24-(2) of this section, the two (2) members of the county board of elections who 25-are appointed by the State Board of Elections may submit lists; and the county 26-board of elections shall select the sheriff and one (1) judge from one (1) list 27-UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 2183-Page 3 of 6-XXXX 2/16/2026 2:55 PM Jacketed-and the clerk and the other judge from the remaining list. 1-(c) If no lists are submitted by the county execut ive committees under subsection 2-(2) of this section, or by the county board of elections under paragraph (b) of 3-this subsection, the county clerk shall select the sheriff and one (1) judge from 4-the membership of one (1) party and the clerk and the other ju dge from the 5-membership of the remaining party. If no members of one (1) of the two (2) 6-political parties are available or willing to serve as a judge, the county clerk 7-shall select any qualified and registered voter within the county to serve as a 8-judge at a voting place. 9-(d) The county board of elections shall, when possible, also appoint an adequate 10-number of alternate precinct election officers from names on the lists which 11-were submitted but which were not selected by the county board as precinct 12-election officers. If alternate precinct election officers are not appointed from 13-the lists of nominees who were not selected as precinct election officers, the 14-county board of elections shall submit its method of selecting alternate 15-precinct election officers to the State Board of Elections for its approval. If no 16-lists are submitted to the county board of elections as provided in this 17-subsection, the county clerk shall select an adequate number of alternate 18-precinct election officers. 19-(e) The names of all prec inct election officers and alternate precinct election 20-officers selected by the county clerk shall be submitted to the county board of 21-elections for its approval. 22-(f) Nothing in this subsection shall prevent the selection of any registered and 23-qualified voter who is not registered with either of the two (2) political parties 24-to serve as a precinct election officer in a precinct in which the officer resides 25-or as otherwise provided in this subsection. 26-(5) If, after all reasonable efforts have been made, neit her the county board of elections 27-UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 2183-Page 4 of 6-XXXX 2/16/2026 2:55 PM Jacketed-nor the county clerk are able to find two (2) qualified officers for each precinct who 1-are affiliated with the two (2) political parties having representation on the State 2-Board of Elections or any other qualified and registered voter within the county, the 3-county board of elections shall submit a list of emergency election officer 4-appointments to the State Board of Elections. The county board of elections shall 5-also present, in writing, its efforts to recruit and appoint e lection officers as 6-prescribed in subsection (4) of this section. The State Board of Elections, after its 7-review, may approve any or all of the emergency appointments submitted by the 8-county board of elections or may direct the county board to take other a ction. Any 9-emergency appointment shall be made for the next ensuing election only. 10-(6) In addition to precinct election officers appointed under subsection (1) of this 11-section, a county board of elections or the county clerk may appoint up to two (2) 12-additional precinct election officers per precinct with the approval of the State 13-Board of Elections. The State Board of Elections shall promulgate an administrative 14-regulation under KRS Chapter 13A establishing conditions under which additional 15-precinct officers may be approved. 16-(7) The county board of elections shall, not less than ten (10) days before the next 17-ensuing election, send to each election officer written notice of his or her 18-appointment. The county board of elections may direct the sheriff of the c ounty to 19-serve the notice of appointment, if it deems the action is necessary. 20-(8) The State Board of Elections may require the county board of elections to submit its 21-list of precinct officers for review. The State Board of Elections may, after a 22-hearing, direct the removal of any election officer who the board finds would not 23-fairly administer the state election laws. The State Board of Elections shall provide 24-for the method and manner of the hearing by administrative regulation promulgated 25-under KRS Chapter 13A, and shall replace any officer so removed. 26-(9) (a) An election officer shall be a qualified voter of the precinct; except that, 27-UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 2183-Page 5 of 6-XXXX 2/16/2026 2:55 PM Jacketed-where no qualified voter of the required political party is available within the 1-precinct, the election officer shall be a qualified voter of the county. 2-(b) A minor seventeen (17) years of age who will become eighteen (18) years of 3-age on or before the day of the regular election may serve as an election 4-officer for the primary and regular elections in which he or she is q ualified to 5-vote; however, no precinct shall have more than one (1) person serving as an 6-election officer who is a minor seventeen (17) years of age. 7-(c) An election officer shall not be a candidate for office during the election year. 8-(d) An election officer shall not be the spouse, parent, brother, sister, or child of a 9-candidate who is to be voted for at the election in the precinct in which the 10-election officer will serve on election day. 11-(e) An election officer shall not have changed his or her voter r egistration party 12-affiliation after December 31 immediately preceding his or her appointment to 13-serve for the primary, or after the second Tuesday in August to serve for the 14-regular election. 15-(f) An election officer may be removed, for cause, at any time u p to five (5) days 16-before an election. Vacancies shall be filled by the county board of elections 17-or the county clerk with alternate precinct election officers and if the vacancy 18-occurs in the appointment of a judge, the person appointed to fill the vacanc y 19-shall be of the same political affiliation as the vacating officer, except for 20-emergency appointments made as provided in subsection (5) of this section. 21-(10) If the county board of elections or the county clerk fails to appoint election officers, 22-or if any officer is not present at the precinct at the time for commencing the 23-election, or refuses to act, and if no alternate is available, the officer in attendance 24-representing the political party of the absentee shall appoint a suitable person to act 25-in hi s or her place for that election. If both representatives of the same political 26-party are absent, qualified voters present affiliating with that party shall elect, viva 27-UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS BR 2183-Page 6 of 6-XXXX 2/16/2026 2:55 PM Jacketed-voce, suitable persons to act in their places. 1-(11) Each election officer shall be paid a minimum of one hundred twenty[sixty] dollars 2-($120)[($60)] per election day served, and such an additional amount as 3-compensation as may be determined by the county board of elections, with the 4-approval of the governing body which would be responsible for funding the election 5-officers' pay, for each election in which the election officer serves, to be paid by the 6-county. For delivering the election packets to the polls, the precinct election officers 7-shall additionally receive the mileage reimbursement p rovided for state employees, 8-for each mile necessarily traveled in the delivery of the packets to the polls, or a flat 9-fee if the fee equals or exceeds that amount. For delivering election returns, the 10-precinct election judges shall additionally receive th e mileage reimbursement 11-provided for state employees for each mile necessarily traveled in the delivery of 12-election returns, or a flat fee if the fee equals or exceeds that amount. The fee paid 13-to the precinct election judges for delivering election return s shall be paid by the 14-county. 15+Page 1+Local Government Mandate Statement+Kentucky Legislative Research Commission+2026 Regular Session++Part I: Measure Information++Bill Request #: 2183 Bill #: SB 205+Document ID #: 5679 Sponsor: Sen. Gary Clemons+Bill Title: AN ACT relating to election officers.++Unit of ☐ City ☒ County ☒ Urban-County+Government: ☒ Charter County ☒ Consolidated Local ☒ Unified Local++Office(s) Impacted: Local boards of election and county clerks++Requirement: ☒ Mandatory ☐ Optional++Effect on Powers+& Duties:++☒ Modifies Existing ☐ Adds New ☐ Eliminates Existing++Other Fiscal Statement(s)+that may exist:+☐ Actuarial Analysis ☐ Corrections Impact+☐ Health Benefit Mandate ☐ State Employee Health Plan++Part II: Bill Provisions and the Estimated Fiscal Impact Relating to Local Government++SB 205 would amend KRS 117.045 to increase the minimum pay of election officers+from $60 per election day to $120 per election day.+The fiscal impact of SB 205 is expected to be minimal to moderate and negative and+will vary by county.+KRS 117.045 requires a statutory minimum of four election officers per precinct. This+provision would remain unchanged. According to data from the Kentucky State Board of+Elections, there are 3,190 precincts across Kentucky’s 120 counties. These range from+three precincts in Carroll, Grant, Marshall, and Montgomery Counties to 646 precincts in+Jefferson County.+Under current law, counties must appoint at least four election officers per precinct and+pay a minimum of $60 per election day. Generally, there are two regularly scheduled+elections each election year in Kentucky, a primary and a general election.++Page 2+Assuming the statutory minimum staffing and pay levels, counties with three precincts+currently pay a minimum of $720 per election, or $1,440 for two election days. Under SB+205, those counties would pay a minimum of $1,440 per election, or $2,880 for two+election days, resulting in an additional election year cost of $1,440, assuming two+election days.+Jefferson County, which has the largest number of precincts at 646, currently pays a+minimum of $155,040 per election day, or $310,080 for two election days. Under SB+205, this would increase to $310,080 per election day, or $620,160 for two election days,+resulting in an additional election year cost of $310,080, assuming two election days.+The minimum additional cost to counties would therefore generally range from $1,440 to+$310,080 in years with two regularly scheduled elections.+Kentucky holds legislative (state and federal) and presidential elections in even-+numbered years and statewide constitutional officer elections every four years in the year+preceding a presidential election. As a result, regularly scheduled elections occur three+out of every four years.+Special elections may also be held as needed in any given jurisdiction, regardless of+whether there is a regularly scheduled election that year.+In addition to the four required precinct election officers, the county board of elections or+the county clerk may appoint up to two additional precinct election officers per precinct+with approval of the State Board of Elections, meaning up to six officers may serve in a+precinct.+To the extent counties appoint additional officers or special elections are held, the fiscal+impact would increase proportionally.++Data Source(s): State Board of Elections; LRC Staff++Preparer: AS Reviewer: TJ (MDA) Date: 2/18/26
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