{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-120.165","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 120.165","heading":"Procedure in contest of regular election -- Trial -- Judgment -- Fees and","body":"costs.\n(1) A contest instituted under KRS 120.155 shall proceed as equity actions. Upon\nreturn of the summons properly executed to the office of the circuit clerk, he or she\nshall immediately docket the case and notify the presiding judge of the court that\nthe contest has been filed. The judge shall proceed to a trial of the cause without\ndelay. In courts having more than one (1) judge, the judge who shall try the ca se\nshall be determined by lot. The court shall complete the case as soon as practicable.\nThe action shall have precedence over all other cases.\n(2) The evidence in chief for the contestant shall be completed within thirty (30) days\nafter service of summons ; the evidence for the contestee shall be completed within\ntwenty-five (25) days after filing of answer, and evidence for contestant in rebuttal\nshall be completed within seven (7) days after the contestee has concluded;\nprovided that for cause the court m ay grant a reasonable extension of time to either\nparty.\n(3) All voting machines, voting equipment, or voting systems, ballots, stub books, and\nother papers concerning which there is any ground for contest may be removed to\nthe court in which the action is pending.\n(4) If it appears from an inspection of the whole record that there has been such fraud,\nintimidation, bribery, or violence in the conduct of the election that neither\ncontestant nor contestee can be judged to have been fairly elected, the Circui t\nCourt, or an appellate court on appeal, may adjudge that there has been no election.\nIn that event the office shall be deemed vacant, with the same legal effect as if the\nperson elected had refused to qualify. In the event a majority of the offices of a\nlegislative body are deemed vacant under KRS 83A.040(5)(b), the county clerk and\nlocal board of elections shall call a special election of the bona fide candidates who\npreviously qualified as soon as practicable, within at least forty-five (45) days of the\ndeclaration of vacancies becoming final orders. If one (1) of the parties is adjudged\nby the court to be elected to the office, he or she shall, on production of a copy of\nthe final judgment, be permitted to qualify or be commissioned.\n(5) If an election contest brought under this section is successful, as determined by the\nCircuit Court or an appellate court on appeal, the contestant shall be entitled to\nrecover reasonable attorney's fees, expert witness fees, and other court costs. The\nfees and costs sha ll be taxed by the court against the local board of elections or\nagainst any party adjudicated to have engaged in fraud, intimidation, bribery, or\nviolence that prevented either the contestant or contestee from being fairly elected.","path":["KRS Chapter 120"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=58063","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:50:18Z","sha256":"0a064af1fa00e23bac70386fc2c17dd00d4ca9c8b3b2590d9efb234c0311161f","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-120.160","next":"us-ky/krs-120.170"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}