In a reversal of a previous decision, a Jefferson County court has ruled incumbent state Rep. Nima Kulkarni, a Louisville Democrat, filed improper paperwork as she sought reelection this year and should be removed from the ballot as a qualified candidate.

The Jefferson Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling Wednesday morning.

In a text message, Kulkarni said her team is “absolutely taking this to the Supreme Court.” Early voting in Kentucky’s primary begins Thursday, with Election Day set for Tuesday.

“The Court of Appeals got it wrong and ignored major components of the law,” Kulkarni wrote Wednesday morning. “I am disappointed that they chose to disenfranchise voters one day before early voting begins. We are absolutely fighting this unjust decision.”

Kulkarni, in office since 2019, faced one primary challenger in fellow Democrat William Zeitz. No Republicans filed to run.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of former state Rep. Dennis Horlander, who Kulkarni defeated in the 2018 election to take office. Horlander’s attorney, Steven Megerle, did not immediately return a request for comment.

A spokesperson with the Jefferson County Clerk, which runs elections in Louisville, also did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

Horlander’s lawsuit was filed in mid-March. While state law requires candidates running for office to be nominated by two members of the candidate’s party, the suit claimed one of the individuals who nominated Kulkarni, Sharon LaRue, was a registered Republican when she signed the paperwork before changing parties weeks later.

Kulkarni has acknowledged LaRue was a GOP member at the time of the signing but said she had changed her registration to join the Democratic Party before the paperwork was certified by the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office.

She argued a change in law approved in 1990 removed the timing component of the statute in question, which had previously said papers must be signed by two party members “at the time of filing his notification and declaration.” That language was changed 34 years ago and replaced with wording that said a candidate can be on the ballot when “the notice and declaration has been filed with the proper officer, and certified” according to previous statutes.

Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Mitch Perry agreed in a late April decision denying Horlander’s petition. But the new court of appeals ruling disagreed with Perry’s interpretation.

The appeals court determined that since LaRue did not change her registration until Jan. 8, after the deadline to register to vote in the primary (Dec. 31, 2023), a previous precedent that “established it is mandatory that a nominating petition be signed by the requisite number of qualified voters, or a candidate will be disqualified from being elected” should be used in this case.

“LaRue was a registered Republican when she signed Kulkarni’s nomination papers. She did not change her registration until after she signed the witness affidavit, after Kulkarni’s nomination papers were filed with the Kentucky Secretary of State, and after the January 5, 2024, deadline to submit nominating papers had expired,” the ruling said. “LaRue, consequently, is not allowed to vote for Kulkarni in the 2024 Democratic primary election, and, therefore, she is not a ‘registered voter of the same party’ as Kulkarni.”

This story will be updated.

Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Nima Kulkarni ineligible in Kentucky primary race, appeals court rules