Kentucky election law section 118.315 says that independent candidates for city office need 2 signatures, but independent candidates for other partisan local office that covers just part of a county need 20 signatures. An independent candidate for Louisville Metro Council, Deonte Hollowell, filed a petition of four signatures, and all four were valid. He was put on the ballot.
However, his Democratic opponent then sued, charging that independent candidates for that office need 20 signatures, not 2. On October 6, a state court in Jefferson County construed the law to require two signatures, not 20. See this story. The case is Clark v Hollowell, 10ci-6470. The Democratic candidate is considering whether to appeal. The independent candidate is the incumbent in his race, and he has Republican and Democratic opponents.
How difficult is it for the MORON party hacks in the State/local regimes to have *plain English* ballot access laws — rather than the many current occult laws from outer space — needing a Star Trek universal translator ???
And to think there is no “Kentucky Independent Party” in Kentucky to take advantage of this “as easy as falling off a log” effort to get on the ballot as an “Independent.”
We in Alabama would give almost anything to have such an option.
The city of Louisville and Jefferson County partially fused their government in 2003. Louisville no longer has a city council, though the other cities in the county maintain their separate legal status – though it appears to be an overlay system. In this particular instance, it would appear that Mr. Hollowell is seeking election to a district within the former Louisville city limits.
If he were running for city council, 2 signatures would have been enough (whether in Lousville or Podunk Hollow), but if he is running for a non-municipal entity covering Jefferson County, he would would need 20. He is probably doing both.
He is running for “Metro Council,” the body that replaced the city council (called “Board of Aldermen”) for Louisville.
There is still a “County Commission” which is the legislative body for Jefferson County, and people run for County Commissioner, but that office has no power and does nothing. But because that legislative body still exists, it shows that the Metro Council is for the city of Louisville, NOT the county of Jefferson (even though both have the same boundaries). Thus, the court’s decision was in my view correct.
Hollowell was appointed to the office after the death earlier this year of the previous office holder, a Democrat. There was like 30+ ballots of the council before he was chosen as a “compromise candidate.”
Added to the mix, one of the Democrats who didn’t get the nod, either by the council or from the party itself (as the death occured after the filing deadline, both R’s and D’s were allowed to choose a candidate) is running as a write-in candidate. This person was recently our “County Judge Executive” (head of the County Commission, another do-nothing position that exists only because it is in the State Constitution), and probably has the most name recognition.
The district is in one of the African-American areas of town, and Hollowell is black, as was the person he replaced. I do not know the ethnic status of the Democratic or Republican candidate (it really doesn’t matter to me), but I do know the write-in candidate is a gay white man.
Hollowell usually votes with the Democrats, but there have been votes where he sided with a “radical” Republican in regards to increasing sewer and other rates, which Hollowell said the people in his district could not afford. That Republican was often on the wrong side of 25-1 (now 24-2) votes.