Kentucky held primaries in May. The day after the primary, the top vote-getter for Ninth Division Judge died. If he had not died, he and the second-place finisher would have been on the run-off ballot in November.

The third-place finisher, who had had only 17 votes fewer than the second-place finisher, then sued to be on the November ballot. On June 25, she won the case. See this story. If she had not won the lawsuit, the November ballot would have only the name of the second-place finisher, giving voters no choice except via write-ins.