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120.055 Procedure for contest of primary election.

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120.055 Procedure for contest of primary election. Any candidate or slate of candidates for nomination to office at a primary election held <br>under the provisions of KRS 118.015 to 118.035 and 118.105 to 118.255, or any <br>candidate for nomination to a city office at a primary election for which the statutes do <br>not otherwise provide for determining contest elections, for whom a number of votes was <br>cast equal to not less than fifty percent (50%) of the votes cast for the successful <br>candidate or slate of candidates for nomination to the office, may contest the right of the <br>successful candidate or slate of candidates, and of any other candidate or slate of <br>candidates for nomination to the office, to the nomination, by filing a petition in the <br>Circuit Court within ten (10) days from the day of the primary election, stating the <br>specific grounds relied upon for the contest, and causing a summons to be issued, <br>returnable in seven (7) days. In the case of candidates or slates of candidates for offices <br>for the state at large, the petition shall be filed in the Franklin Circuit Court; in the case of <br>other candidates it shall be filed in the Circuit Court of the county in which the contestee <br>resides. The summons may be personally served on the contestee in any county, or it may <br>be served by leaving a copy at his home with a member of his family over sixteen (16) <br>years of age, or by posting a copy on the door of his residence. The contestee shall file his <br>answer within seven (7) days after service of summons. The answer may contain grounds <br>of contest in favor of the contestee and against the contestant, but the grounds shall be <br>specifically set out. Any candidate or slate of candidates who would have been qualified <br>to bring a contest action under this section, who is a party to a recount proceeding brought <br>under KRS 120.095, may, by filing an answer in the recount proceeding within the time <br>allowed by this section for filing grounds of contest, set forth grounds of contest against <br>the petitioner in the recount proceeding. No ground of contest by either party shall be <br>filed or made more definite by amendment after the expiration of the time allowed by this <br>section for filing the original pleading. The contestant may file a reply within five (5) <br>days after answer is filed, which shall complete the pleading, and any affirmative matter <br>in the reply shall be treated as controverted. Upon return of the summons, properly <br>executed, to the office of the circuit clerk of the county in which the action is pending, the <br>clerk shall immediately docket the cause and notify the presiding judge of the court that <br>the contest has been instituted, and the judge shall proceed to a trial of the cause within <br>five (5) days after the issue was joined. In judicial circuits having more than one (1) <br>Circuit Judge, the judge who shall hear the cause shall be determined by lot. Effective: July 14, 1992 <br>History: Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 288, sec. 42, effective July 14, 1992. -- Amended 1976 Ky. Acts ch. 62, sec. 87; and ch. 199, sec. 3. -- Created 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 130, <br>sec. 158.