No elections in 2013, but voters will be busy next year

Posted July 17, 2013 at 1:46 pm

Since state law changed several years ago in an attempt to cut down the number of election cycles necessary in Kentucky, there is now one out of each fourth ‘odd’ numbered year in which no elections are held in the state and 2013 is one of those years. However, the 2014 ballot is expected to be full enough to make up the difference for both years.

Clinton County Clerk Shelia Booher released the 2014 election schedule on Monday, which reveals there will be a host of offices to be filled–including at the federal, state and local levels, as well as several judicial related district-wide seats that will be up for grabs next year, 2014.

As with any election where all local offices–plus two Clinton County Board of Education seats–will be up for election, Booher expects a long ballot in the May primary, as well as most county districts in the fall 2014 general election.

Although there will be no election this fall, candidates for all offices can begin filing for next year’s races on November 6 and continue filing for almost three months, or until January 28, 2014, according to the Kentucky Election Calendar.

Next year’s primary ballot will include all county offices with the exception of Circuit Court Clerk and Commonwealth Attorney, which are six-year terms and those elections were held in 2012. Local offices that will appear on the May ballot will include: judge/executive; sheriff; county clerk; PVA (Property Valuation Administrator); coroner; county attorney; jailer; and all six Clinton Fiscal Court (magisterial) seats and all six constable positions.

The fall election, other than the primary winners for county office, will also see all city officials, including mayor and six council members and two school board members elected. Those candidates run on a non-partisan basis.

Some local district-wide judicial races will also be on next year’s ballot, including that of 40th Judicial Circuit Judge and District Judge in both Divisions One and Two. There will also be a Court of Appeals Justice elected. The circuit and appeals judge seats are eight-year terms, with the district judgeships being four year terms. Also, a Justice of the Supreme Court, in which Clinton County will be included, will appear on the ballot to serve an eight-year term.

There will be one state race in 2014, that being for Kentucky House of Representatives, where Jeff Hoover is the current incumbent in the 83rd district which includes Clinton County.

Two federal races will also be on next year’s primary ballot, that of U.S. House of Representatives (Congress) and one of the two seats in the U.S. Senate, that of incumbent Mitch McConnell, current Senate Minority Leader in Washington.

Even though Clinton Countians who are registered to vote didn’t get a chance to cast a ballot this year, they are likely to see a large number of candidates names to select from next spring, making decisions on local, state, federal and judicial leaders for the years to come.

As of June 20, some 7,376 people in Clinton County were registered voters, according to the Kentucky Election Commission statistics. Of that number, over four out of five were Republicans, 7,376, compared to only 1,342 who were registered with the Democrat party. There were 107 “other” party voters. Female voters also continue to slightly outnumber male counterparts in voter registration, with 3,813 women voters compared to 3,563 men voters as of late June.