117.235 Persons permitted in voting room -- Prohibited activities -- Exit polls permitted -- Maintenance of order -- Mock elections for school children. - Kentucky Statutes

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117.235 Persons permitted in voting room -- Prohibited activities -- Exit polls permitted -- Maintenance of order -- Mock elections for school children. (1) No person, other than the election officers, challengers, person assisting voters in accordance with KRS 117.255(3), and a minor child in the company of a voter, shall
be permitted within the voting room while the vote is being polled, except as
follows:
(a) For the purpose of voting;
(b) By authority of the election officers to keep order and enforce the law;
(c) With the express approval of the county board of elections to repair or replace voting equipment that is malfunctioning and to provide additional voting
equipment; or (d) At the voter's discretion, a minor child in the company of a voter may accompany the voter into a voting booth or other private area provided for
casting a vote. (2) No officer of election shall do any electioneering on election day.
(3) No person shall electioneer at the polling place on the day of any election, as established in KRS 118.025, within a distance of three hundred (300) feet of any
entrance to a building in which a voting machine is located if that entrance is
unlocked and is used by voters on election day, unless the fiscal court or legislative
body of an urban-county, charter county, or consolidated local government, on a
countywide basis, specifically prohibits electioneering on the day of any election by
ordinance for a distance greater than three hundred (300) feet from the polling
place. No person shall electioneer within the interior of a building or affix any
electioneering materials to the exterior or interior of a building where the county
clerk's office is located, or any building designated by the county board of elections
and approved by the State Board of Elections for absentee voting, during the hours
absentee voting is being conducted in the building by the county clerk pursuant to
KRS 117.085(1)(c). Electioneering shall include the displaying of signs, the
distribution of campaign literature, cards, or handbills, the soliciting of signatures to
any petition, or the solicitation of votes for or against any bona fide candidate or
ballot question in a manner which expressly advocates the election or defeat of the
candidate or expressly advocates the passage or defeat of the ballot question, but
shall not include exit polling or other exceptions established by the State Board of
Elections through the promulgation of administrative regulations. (4) No voter shall be permitted to converse with others while in any room in which voting, including absentee voting, is conducted concerning their support or
nonsupport of any candidate, party, or issue to be voted on, except as provided in
KRS 117.255. (5) Any precinct election officer, county clerk, deputy county clerk, or any law enforcement official may enforce the election laws and maintain law and order at
the polls and within three hundred (300) feet of any entrance to the building in
which the voting machine is located if that entrance is unlocked and is used by
voters. Assistance may be requested of any law enforcement officer. (6) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, the State Board of Elections may establish a program designed to instill in school children a respect for
the democratic principles of voting by conducting in any county a mock election for
school children in conjunction with any primary, or regular or special election. The
State Board of Elections shall promulgate administrative regulations regarding the
mock elections to insure that the regular voting process will not be impaired. Effective: July 15, 2008
History: Amended 2008 Ky. Acts ch. 79, sec. 3, effective July 15, 2008. -- Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 107, sec. 3, effective March 30, 2006. -- Amended 2005 Ky. Acts
ch. 176, sec. 1, effective March 31, 2005. -- Amended 1996 Ky. Acts ch. 49, sec. 1,
effective March 12, 1996; and ch. 195, sec. 7, effective July 15, 1996. -- Amended
1994 Ky. Acts ch. 394, sec. 16, effective July 15, 1994.