A three-judge Kentucky Court of Appeals panel denied a motion that sought to disqualify Louisville Rep. Nima Kulkarni from seeking election this fall.
Kulkarni’s primary challenger, William Zeitz, and previous opponent, former Rep. Dennis Horlander, appealed a ruling out of Franklin County Circuit Court last week that allowed a vacancy in the 40th House District primary election to stand.
“Because the Kentucky Secretary of State, Michael Adams, appears to have correctly applied the law to the particular circumstances presented, we find no substantial question on the merits of this case, and we deny the pending motion,” the Court of Appeals said in a published order.
Adams, a Republican, declared the vacancy after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Kulkarni was disqualified from the May primary election because of problems in her filing papers. Adams invited the local political parties to nominate candidates for the general election. Democrats nominated Kulkarni and Republicans did not name a candidate.
Kulkarni, by way of her attorney James Craig, said she appreciated the appeals court “issuing a thorough and comprehensive opinion today.”
“The two men who brought this challenge have lost repeatedly at the ballot box, and now their efforts to go around the election process have been denied,” Kulkarni said. “Those who were involved in going against the will of the people and hoping that a court would ignore the voters’ wishes — they also lost today. This was a win, not only for my constituents, but also for democracy.”
Steven Megerle, an attorney for Zeitz and Horlander, said “Kulkarni has not yet stolen this election” and that they would file an appeal with the Supreme Court to determine when a vacancy occurs. Megerle reiterated that Zeitz was a bona fide candidate for the primary.
“This case always appeared to be bound back to the state Supreme Court due to the quirky and peculiar posture that it’s had,” Megerle said.
Before issuing its denial, the Court of Appeals requested the Supreme Court review the appeal, but the high court denied the transfer. Judges Sara Walter Combs, Kelly Mark Easton, and Jeff Taylor were on the appeals court panel.
Zeitz and Horlander filed a lawsuit against election officials after Hornlander challenged the validity of Kulkarni’s nomination papers, as one of the two signatories was not a registered Democrat, as required by state law, at the time of signing.
Kulkarni defeated Horlander in the 2018 and 2020 Democratic primaries for the 40th House District. In an unofficial vote count, Kulkarni received 78% of ballots cast in the May primary election. Zeitz received the remaining 22%.
The Court of Appeals said that the question around Kulkarni’s eligibility to be nominated would have been different had the Supreme Court not allowed votes to be cast for her before disqualification.
“Zeitz was not entitled to be declared the winner of an election that did not count and which he lost by a four-to-one margin,” the appeals court said. “Zeitz was not unopposed before the primary votes were cast.”
The deadline to print ballots for the general election was Sept. 16.
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Written by McKenna Horsley. Cross-posted from the Kentucky Lantern.
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