For the second time in less than a year, Estill Countians are circulating a petition to force a wet/dry election. This time the petition is asking for a special election for the City of Irvine.
Chris Gill, of Irvine, is responsible for the petition and has scheduled a petition signing rally on the courthouse lawn for Saturday.
Gill, who is a senior at Berea College, said he decided to push for another vote after completing an internship with Estill Development Alliance.
“The director was telling me about all the problems,” he said. “The city is failing, businesses are going away, there’s nothing to do in the city, the youth are leaving and so are the jobs.”
He said legalized alcohol sales could help solve these problems.
“People have to leave the city to buy alcohol or go to a bar,” he said. “There’s only two restaurants in the city limits right now, legalizing alcohol here could help with this.”
He said legal alcohol sales in Irvine could boost the economy, bring more business and offer more jobs for local people.
Gill said he isn’t working in conjunction with the group that forced the county-wide vote in January, Citizens for Estill County Progress. In that election, petitions began circulating in August. The group submitted over 1,000 signatures to Estill County Clerk Sherry Fox. She verified that 752 of the signatures were from registered Estill County voters, forcing Judge-Executive Wallace Taylor to schedule a vote for Jan. 15.
The January election marked the first time in 50 years Estill Countians had the opportunity to vote on the issue of legal alcohol sales. The county voted to remain dry by only 50 votes. Kentucky law states that another countywide election can’t take place for three years.
By the totals from the special election, more votes from precincts within Irvine’s city limits were for legalized alcohol sales than against.
The Courthouse, Schoolhouse and West Lawn precincts indicate that 288 voted “yes” to allow legal alcohol sales and 258 voted “no.”
In the Courthouse precinct, 70 voted “yes” and 40 voted “no.” In the Schoolhouse precinct, 69 voted “yes” and 74 voted “no.” In the West Lawn precinct, 77 voted “yes” and 62 voted “no.”
KRS 242.,125 states that a city-only election is legal. If county vote upholds a dry territory, cities within that county are allowed to hole another election. The three-year rule does not apply in this case. The statute establishes this for first-, second-, third- and fourth-class cities.
Based on its population, Irvine is a fourth class city.
In order for any wet/dry election to take place, 25 percent of the total number of voters from the city during the most recent general election would have to sign the petition.
Gill estimates he’ll need to gather 250 verifiable signatures to force the vote.
“We’re also going to be set up to allow people to register to vote on the courthouse steps,” he said. “We’ll be going door-to-door this week talking to people about what we’re doing and we’ll have voter-registration cards there with us.”
Gill also ordered voter registration data from the state.
“That way we can cross-reference any signatures with that data,” he said.
He said his research into state law concerning special elections revealed that the petition can state what the date of the election would be.
“We set the date for a Saturday to maximize the number of people who would be able to make it out to vote,” he said.
The petition has to be submitted to Fox 60 days prior to the date of the election, meaning Gill’s petition would need to be submitted by July 23.
“Time is limited,” he said. “But we’ve got a good start.”
Gill along with his supporters, who refer to themselves at Boost Irvine, will be on the courthouse steps Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. asking for signatures.
The Hillbilly Diner will be a rain location.
He hopes people will the sign the petition out of concern for the city.
“This is not just about alcohol,” he said. “It’s about improving our community and our economy.”
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Group petitioning for Irvine wet/dry vote
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