'Overly petty': Voters indifferent to Nima Kulkarni candidacy lawsuit

A day after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled to reinstate Rep. Nima Kulkarni as an eligible candidate for House District 40 ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, voters casting their ballots appeared happy with the decision.

Voters who spoke with The Courier Journal backed Kulkarni, a Louisville Democrat, by saying her prior disqualification by the Kentucky Court of Appeals didn’t make much of a difference to them.

“It’s overly petty (and) it does not change my mind,” said Brenda Jewell, a longtime Louisville resident who voted for Kulkarni on Tuesday.

Kulkarni’s candidacy papers have been at the center of an ongoing lawsuit filed in mid-March on behalf of former Rep. Dennis Horlander. A Kentucky court of appeals on Wednesday ruled were filed improperly, bumping Kulkarni off Tuesday's ballot, but the state Supreme Court temporarily reversed that decision Monday, allowing her back in the race until justices hear arguments on the case in June.

Chapter 118 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes states that a candidate seeking to put their name on the ballot must have their candidacy “signed by the candidate and by not less than two (2) registered voters of the same party from the district or jurisdiction from which the candidate seeks nomination.”

According to the lawsuit, one of those registered voters who signed Kulkarni's paperwork, Sharon LaRue, was a registered Republican before the filing was certified by the Kentucky Secretary of State's office, as required by law.

Kulkarni said LaRue changed her registration before her paperwork was certified, which she argued would preserve her eligibility.

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Her supporters remain undeterred.

“I find it fishy that the guy waited until right at the last minute to file (the complaint),” said Kyle Sammons, a medical lab technician from Louisville. “She beat him that time, then he ran again, and then she beat him even worse. So he’s mad.”

While Kulkarni is running against William Zeitz this year, she ran against Horlander in the 2018 and 2020 primary elections, beating him on both occasions by a substantial margin. She went on to beat Republican Joshua Neubert in the 2018 general election to claim the seat and has held it ever since.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Nima Kulkarni lawsuit: Voters unbothered by lawsuit on during primary