HB 1345 – AS INTRODUCED
2012 SESSION
03/05
HOUSE BILL 1345
AN ACT prohibiting party committees from selecting candidates for office.
SPONSORS: Rep. Vaillancourt, Hills 15; Rep. Cohn, Merr 6; Rep. Manuse, Rock 5; Rep. DeJong, Hills 9
This bill prohibits party committees from selecting candidates for office when there is a vacancy or when there is no declaration filed for an office.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
12-2104
03/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve
AN ACT prohibiting party committees from selecting candidates for office.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Personal Filing. Amend RSA 655:16 to read as follows:
655:16 Personal Filing. Except for those who must file with a town or city clerk, any person who files on the last day of the filing period must do so in person before the secretary of state[; provided, however, that this requirement shall not apply to the filling of vacancies by party committees].
2 Withdrawal. Amend RSA 655:30 to read as follows:
655:30 Withdrawal. When a party candidate has duly filed according to law for nomination at a primary election, or other candidate has submitted nomination papers, no withdrawal or declination of the candidate shall be accepted by the secretary of state subsequent to the last dates for filing a declaration of candidacy or the filing of nomination papers except as provided in RSA 655:31 [and 655:34].
3 Disqualification of Candidate. Amend RSA 655:38 to read as follows:
655:38 Disqualification of Candidate. If a candidate to be voted for at the general election shall make oath between the date of the candidate’s nomination and the day of the election that he or she does not qualify for the public office which he or she seeks because of age, domicile, or incapacitating physical disability acquired subsequent to the primary, the secretary of state may remove said person’s name from the ballot. [A new candidate may be substituted by the appropriate party committee by submitting the name of the new candidate to the secretary of state within 3 days of the notice of disqualification. The name of the substitute candidate shall be placed on the ballots as provided in RSA 656:21.]
4 Party Columns. Amend RSA 656:5, II to read as follows:
II. The position of party columns shall be rotated on the ballots used so that each party column shall appear thereon, to the extent practicable, an approximately equal number of times in the first, last, and each intermediate column position across the state, without requiring more than one unique column order or ballot format for each town, ward, or unincorporated place. Starting with the general election for 2012 and following each new apportionment of representative districts, but before the [close of the period during which a person may accept the nomination of a party committee pursuant to RSA 655:32] third Wednesday in June, the secretary of state shall develop as many generic column rotation plans for use in general elections as he or she might reasonably expect to be needed for different possible numbers of party columns on the general election ballot. If the number of party columns expected on the general election ballot changes such that one or more additional generic column rotation plans are needed, the secretary of state shall, from time to time, prepare such additional plans as are needed for any general election.
5 Party Columns. Amend RSA 656:5, IV to read as follows:
IV. Immediately following the [close of the period during which a person may accept the nomination of a party committee pursuant to RSA 655:32] third Wednesday in June, the secretary of state or designee shall publicly select by lot the actual party columns to be positioned according to the generic column rotation plan established pursuant to paragraphs II and III. No party shall be assigned the same generic party column designation for 2 consecutive general elections.
6 Order of Names. Amend RSA 656:5-a, II to read as follows:
II. Immediately following the [close of the period during which a person may accept the nomination of a party committee pursuant to RSA 655:32] third Wednesday in June, the secretary of state or designee shall conduct a public random selection of a whole number from one to the total number of candidates for each possible list length where a group of candidates for the same office may appear in the same list in state or local elections during the next 2 years. For example, for a possible list of 3 candidates, the number one, 2, or 3 shall be randomly selected. The seed number for each possible list length shall remain in effect for the 2 years until the next random selection of seed numbers.
7 Defective Ballots. Amend RSA 659:65, II(b) to read as follows:
(b) The ballot has attached to it an adhesive slip, sticker, or paster [not prepared in accordance with RSA 656:21] in the space for any office, but the rest of the ballot admits to counting as provided in subparagraph II(a).
8 Nominations for Incompatible Offices. Amend RSA 659:91 to read as follows:
659:91 Nominations for Incompatible Offices. Any person who is nominated by the same political party for incompatible offices shall notify the secretary of state in person, in writing, by facsimile transmission, or by e-mailing a signed statement as an attachment no later than 3:00 p.m. on the Thursday following the date of the primary of which nomination he or she will accept. Thereupon the secretary of state shall declare a vacancy to exist in the nomination which such person declined. [The vacancy shall be filled as provided in RSA 655:37 except that all the necessary declarations of candidacy and affidavits shall be filed no later than 5:00 p.m. on the Friday following the date of the primary.]
9 Candidate of One Party. Amend RSA 659:91-a, II to read as follows:
II. [Notwithstanding the provisions of RSA 655:37,] If any candidate is disqualified from accepting the nomination of another party by means of write-in votes because the candidate is disqualified under the provisions of paragraph I, then the nomination shall be given to the candidate who received the highest number of write-in votes and who was not disqualified under the provisions of paragraph I, so long as he or she receives 10 write-in votes, or write-in votes equaling 10 percent or more of the total votes cast for that party on the state primary election ballot, whichever is the smaller.
10 Ballot Law Commission Duties. Amend RSA 665:6, II to read as follows:
II. When nomination papers as provided in RSA 655:40-43 [or the filling of vacancies in nominations occurring after the primary as provided in RSA 655:37-39] are in apparent conformity with law, they shall be valid unless written objection to their conformity with the law shall be filed with the secretary of state within the time limit provided in RSA 655:44 [in the case of nominations by nomination papers or within 3 days of the date on which the appointment to fill a vacancy is filed with the secretary of state in the case of filling vacancies in nominations]. If written objections are filed, the secretary of state shall forthwith notify the ballot law commission of the filing. The ballot law commission shall then meet as provided in RSA 665:5 in order to hear and decide all the objections. The decision of the ballot law commission in such case shall be final as to questions both of law and fact, and no court shall have jurisdiction to review such decision.
11 Repeal. The following are repealed:
I. RSA 655:10, III, relative to nominating person to incompatible office.
II. RSA 655:32, relative to no declaration filed.
III. RSA 655:34, relative to death of candidate.
IV. RSA 655:37, relative to vacancy for office on party ticket.
V. RSA 655:39, relative to death of candidate.
VI. RSA 656:21, relative to pasters.
VII. RSA 661:9, II(c), relative to nomination by party committee to fill vacancy in county office.
12 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.