FRANKFORT — A local-option vote to allow alcohol sales in large restaurants will proceed in Georgetown on Tuesday after a ruling by a Franklin County Circuit Court judge that the law is constitutional.

        The ruling by Judge Roger Crittenden on Friday applies only to the election Tuesday in Georgetown, but it is an indicator for supporters and opponents in about a dozen other communities where similar elections will be held Tuesday.

        The legislature this year created a new kind of local-option election, which allows drink sales of beer, wine and liquor in restaurants that seat at least 100 people and get 70 percent of their income from food sales.

        The Temperance League of Kentucky challenged the law on the grounds that it was special legislation because it applied only to a certain size of restaurant. Special legislation is prohibited by the Kentucky constitution.

        Jeffrey Trapp, an attorney for the Temperance League, said the ruling on the constitutional issue would be appealed. But Mr. Trapp said no decision had been made about whether to seek another injunction to prevent the Georgetown vote from being certified until the lawsuit is ruled upon by an appeals court.

        Judge Crittenden said the law applies to all dry cities and counties, and the restaurant provision was secondary. The Temperance League also said the legislature did not provide any findings or justification for its conclusion that alcohol sales would help economic development in dry counties.

        “The limitation of this opportunity to larger restaurants is rational, as the General Assembly could reasonably have assumed that selling alcohol in taverns and other small establishments, or establishments whose principal business is selling alcohol, would not promote the type of economic development described above,” Judge Crittenden wrote.

        The judge said there should be more precinct officers in some precincts where local-option elections are to be conducted. In areas where voters might not be eligible, such as where an election is in a city only, wet and dry forces should provide additional precinct observers, Judge Crittenden said.

        Another new law enacted by the General Assembly this year, to allow local-option elections only in precincts with golf courses, is not affected by the ruling. A ballot item Tuesday in one precinct of Shelby County would allow alcohol sales at a golf course under construction there.

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