Can Ashley Judd represent Kentucky with a Tennessee address?

Ashley Judd's address says Tennessee — she lives outside Nashville — but she's considering a run for Kentucky's senate seat, thanks to Kentucky's vague laws.

Talk of Tennessee resident Ashley Judd running for U.S. Senate in Kentucky has turned up ambiguity in state residency requirements that a legislative leader says need to be cleared up.

The U.S. Constitution requires only that Senate candidates be residents of the state they would represent "when elected." But Kentucky election law raises questions about whether candidates can have their names placed on ballots if they're not registered to vote in the state. That could be key, considering only legal residents can be registered to vote.

Judd, a former Kentucky resident now living outside of Nashville, is considering seeking the Democratic nomination in Kentucky to run against Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell next year.

State Senate Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, said he's unaware of residency being an issue in the past in a U.S. Senate race in Kentucky.

"That's something that we ought to look at so someone can't live in say, oh, Tennessee and then just move here the day before the election to qualify under a vague residency law," Thayer said Tuesday.

University of Kentucky law professor Joshua A. Douglas said, constitutionally, Judd clearly doesn't have to live in Kentucky until she's elected. But Douglas said a legal argument could be made that, under state law, Juddhas to be a resident by Dec. 31 to run in next year's Democratic primary.

"If she's going to run for the Democratic nomination here, then she's certainly going to get her residency and register to vote before this date," Douglas said. "I'd be shocked if she didn't."

Lynn Sowards Zellen, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, said the residency issue wouldn't be decided by her office if it were challenged.

"A qualified voter or opposing candidate may challenge a candidate's bona fides, and the determination whether the candidate is qualified, including whether he or she meets any residency requirements, would be left to the court," Zellen said.

Grimes also is considered a potential challenger to McConnell, although, like Judd, she has acknowledged only that she's being encouraged to run.

Judd has been largely mum about her intentions. As a potential candidate, she met privately with about 50 people last month in Louisville for a listening session to hear their concerns. She also has talked with Democratic leaders, including Gov. Steve Beshear, about the race.

Defeating McConnell would be the Democrats' biggest prize of the 2014 election. His seat is one of 14 that Republicans are defending while Democrats try to hold onto 21, hoping to retain or add to their 55-45 edge.

Democratic strategists Danny Briscoe and Dale Emmons differ on the importance of the residency issue.

Briscoe said he doesn't see it as problem for Judd, because she has strong Kentucky roots as a former Ashland resident and a University of Kentucky graduate.

"It's not like she'd move here for the first time," Briscoe said of Judd. "There are a lot of things to talk about in the campaign. I don't think residency is one of them."

Emmons, however, said not being a current resident of Kentucky "sends all the wrong messages to the electorate."

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Can Ashley Judd represent Kentucky with a Tennessee address?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0319/Can-Ashley-Judd-represent-Kentucky-with-a-Tennessee-address
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe