BY LUKE C. PIERCE, WCLU News
FRANKFORT — The first day to file candidate filing forms for an office on the ballot in 2023 begins Wednesday.
State law prohibits the affixing of signatures on nomination papers until “the first Wednesday after the first Monday in November of the year preceding the year the office will appear on the ballot.” That would be Wednesday, November 9, 2022. It always occurs the day after election day because the Kentucky Constitution requires all elections to take place “on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.”
According to the Kentucky Election Schedule on the Kentucky’s Secretary of State website, the only offices that will appear on the ballot are state officers.
Those offices include: Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Auditor of Public Accounts, State Treasurer, and Commissioner of Agriculture.
Several Republicans have already launched their campaigns for governor in a attempt to outst incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear wo is in his first term. The GOP members include: Glasgow native and former U.N. ambassador Kelly Craft, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron; state Rep. Savannah Maddox; Kentucky Auditor Mike Harmon; state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles; David Cooper; and Eric Deters.
Any person wishing to file for one of the offices that will appear on the 2023 ballot shall do so with the Office of the Secretary of State. Click here to obtain the forms needed to file for a office.
The primary election is slated for May 16 while the general election will be on Nov. 7. The last day to file nomination papers is Friday, Jan. 6, 2023 at 4 p.m.