Write In Candidate

Have you picked your candidates for this fall's elections yet? What if you decide you're not for any of the names listed on the ballot and you want to write someone else in? With new voting machines in some of the polls in Jessamine County the process could be a little confusing. In fact, when the courthouse publishes its sample ballot in the newspaper, it will not include instructions for picking a write-in candidate. But every voter should know all of his or her options, so here is what to do if you want to make your own choice.

Tonight will be the first of two political forums scheduled in the coming weeks for local candidates. The forum will be at the Clark County Extension Office on Fortune Drive at 6 p.m., with a meet and greet at 5:30. Voters will hear from candidates for several offices, in the following order: 6-6:25: County judge-executive, whose candidates are incumbent John Myers (Republican), former treasurer Henry Branham (Democrat) and write-in candidate Robert Stone. 6:25-6:50: Sheriff, a campaign between two newcomers, Berl Perdue Jr. (Republican)

The right to vote in our democracy did not come cheaply, and protecting that right is part of the costs of American citizenship.The Nov. 7 election ballot is Kentucky's biggest ever. There are more contested positions than ever before, including several state offices and all local offices. It is important for you to cast a vote - but specifically, an informed one, based on what you learn about each candidate and his or her positions, which you must weigh and compare with your own stance on the issues.

Though he came up short in May's mayoral primary election, Nicholasville Mayor John Martin isn't quite through with politics. On Monday, Martin announced he would file to be a write-in candidate for one of the city's four city commissioner slots in the November general election. "I got the idea from the Garrard County judge," he said referring to county Judge-Executive E.J. Hasty who lost the May Democratic primary to David Wilson. "He's running for judge as a write-in.

LANCASTER - Garrard County Judge-Executive E.J. Hasty says he will run as a write-in candidate for the November election. "Well, losing by only 19 votes, I just think it's something I need to do," Hasty said. After discussing the option with his wife at lunchtime Thursday, Hasty said he will file as a write-in candidate today. "She's said she's counted over 100 phone calls she's gotten at our home from people interested to know if I'd run again," Hasty said. Hasty, who is in his second term as judge-executive, lost in Democratic primary May 16 to David Wilson.

The recent death of Burgin City Council member Bobby Gene Royalty will require the council to appoint his replacement after the first of the year. Council members already were going to have to name a member because only five people ran for the six-member board in the November elections, Councilman Terry Pitman said before the elections. Royalty was one of those, although his election was as a write-in candidate and his name did not appear on the ballot.

BURGIN - When the votes are counted Tuesday night, Burgin residents still will not have a full complement of city council members to fill the six seats. That's because only five people filed for election, and one of them is a write-in candidate. Incumbents Christine McGrath, Joey Delton Hardin and Terry Pitman are seeking re-election, and their names will be on the ballot, along with that of Mary Margaret Heaton, a newcomer to city government. A fourth incumbent, Bobby Royalty, has registered as a write-in candidate but his name will not appear on the ballot.

STANFORD - David Hacker, an eight-year incumbent on the Lincoln County Board of Education who missed the filing deadline for re-election, is launching a write-in campaign this week. Hacker missed filing deadline after he says he arrived at the Lincoln County Courthouse in time but found two sets of doors locked early. Both the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department and the County Clerk's office deny locking the doors early. At the time, Hacker said he was considering a lawsuit against County Clerk George O. Spoonamore III for not accepting his petition to file.