KRS § 242.120 — KY Code / Title XX / Chapter 242 / Section 242.120
242.120 Recounts and contests -- Creation of recanvass procedures for local option elections -- Recanvass reports
Status: in_force

242.120 Recounts and contests -- Creation of recanvass procedures for local option

elections -- Recanvass reports.

(1) Any qualified voter may demand a recount of the votes or contest the election in the

same manner as is provided for the recount of votes or contest of regular elections

of county officers by KRS 120.155 to 120.185. The members of the county board of

election commissioners shall be named as contestees and summons shall be served

upon them. Any qualified voter may intervene as contestee by filing a petition to be

made a party in the action.

(2) (a) The canvass and returns provided for in KRS 242.110 shall constitute the

official returns for the local option election, unless before 4 p.m. on the

seventh day following the local option election, the county clerk or county

board of elections takes notice of a discrepancy in the tally of votes cast in any

precinct or number of precincts within the territory voting in the local option

election, or a committee favoring or opposing the proposition makes a written

request to the county board of elections to check and recanvass the ballots

cast, including absentee ballots, of any precinct or any number of precincts

involving the local option election. After this time period has elapsed and

notice is taken, the county board of elections shall assemble at 9 a.m. on the

second day following the filing deadline to request a recanvass, and not

sooner, and recheck and recanvass all voting equipment and make a proper

return thereof to the county clerk, and the canvass and return shall become the

official returns for the election.

(b) In making the recanvass, the county board of elections shall make a record of

the unique designation or number of the seal upon the voting equipment and,

without unlocking the voting equipment against voting, recanvass the votes

cast. If, after a recanvass, it is found that the original canvass of the returns

has been correctly made from the voting equipment and that there still remains

a discrepancy unaccounted for, this discrepancy shall be noted. If, upon

recanvass, it appears that the original canvass of the returns by the election

officers was incorrect, the returns and all papers being prepared by the county

board of elections shall be corrected accordingly.

(c) The county board of elections shall, immediately upon receipt of a request for

a recanvass, notify the committees favoring or opposing the proposition of the

time and place of the recanvass. At the recanvass, the committees favoring or

opposing the proposition may be present. The county board of elections shall

authorize representatives of the news media to observe the recanvass of the

votes cast at the polls in each precinct. Nothing in this section shall prohibit an

individual from requesting, in addition to a recanvass, a recount as authorized

by KRS Chapter 120.

(3) The State Board of Elections shall prescribe through administrative regulations

promulgated under KRS Chapter 13A, a form to be used by county boards of

election to report all recanvassed votes. The form shall include the following

information:

(a) The name of the county in which the recanvass was conducted;

(b) The date of the report;

(c) The date of the local option election;

(d) The proposition for which the recanvass was conducted;

(e) The names of the leaders of the committees favoring or opposing the

proposition being recanvassed; and

(f) The votes cast at the polls, absentee votes, and vote totals for each "yes" or

"no" vote.

The report shall be signed by each member of the county board of elections.

(4) The county board of elections shall file its recanvass report as prescribed in

administrative regulations promulgated by the State Board of Elections in

accordance with KRS Chapter 13A.

(5) The State Board of Elections shall promulgate administrative regulations in

accordance with KRS Chapter 13A to establish the proper procedures for

conducting a local option election recanvass for each type of voting system

approved by the State Board of Elections and in use in Kentucky.