On Monday, February 18, 2019, the Franklin Circuit Court issued a decision regarding the certification of the 2019 Primary Ballot. The Court ruled that Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes was within her authority to prevent the ballot from being manipulated for political gamesmanship. This ruling was in reference to Grimes certifying only the legal names of the candidates and removing nicknames that may have been used in an attempt to give the candidate an advantage. Judge Thomas Wingate wrote “the Petitioner lacks a legal right to use the politically advantageous nickname, and the Secretary of State did not act arbitrarily in removing the alleged nickname from the ballot.”