HB 1399 – AS INTRODUCED
2012 SESSION
03/01
HOUSE BILL 1399
AN ACT relative to state general election ballots.
This bill authorizes party columns on state general election ballots for political organizations and independent candidates and requires the rotation of names of candidates for United States senator and representative in congress within the column when 2 or more candidate lists are arranged into the same column.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
12-2631
03/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve
AN ACT relative to state general election ballots.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Party Columns. Amend RSA 656:5, I to read as follows:
I. The names of all candidates nominated in accordance with the election laws shall be arranged upon the state general election ballot in successive party columns. Each separate column shall contain the names of the candidates of one party or political organization or candidates running as independents; except that, if only a part of a full list of candidates is nominated by a political party or political organization, 2 or more such lists may be arranged whenever practicable in the same column. When arranging 2 or more lists in the same column, the names of candidates for United States senator and representative in congress shall be rotated so that each candidate shall appear an approximately equal number of times in each position for the applicable office within that column. The party columns that list the names of candidates for offices that elect more than one person shall stagger the names of the candidates so that they do not line up evenly in a horizontal direction. The left-most column shall begin one line below the column to its right. The secretary of state shall determine the vertical location of any additional columns that may appear on the ballot.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.