Revision: Jan. 17, 2023, 4:09 p.m.
2023 SESSION
23-0907.2
06/08
SENATE BILL [bill number]
SPONSORS: [sponsors]
COMMITTEE: [committee]
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ANALYSIS
This bill changes the date of the state primary election to May and creates a runoff election for the federal primary election.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
23-0907.2
06/08
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Three
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Election of Officers and Delegates; Election Dates; State Primary Election. Amend RSA 653:8 to read as follows:
653:8 State Primary Election. The state primary election shall be held on the second Tuesday in [September] May of every even-numbered year.
2 Voters and Checklists; Hearings on Alterations to Party Registration. Amend RSA 654:32 to read as follows:
654:32 Hearings on Alterations to Party Registration. Before each state or presidential primary election, the supervisors of the checklist shall be in session before each primary for the change of registration of legal voters as provided in RSA 654:34 or 654:34-a or both. Before the presidential primary, the session shall be on the Friday preceding the first day of the filing period, between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and at the discretion of the supervisors for extended hours. Before the state primary election, the session shall be on the Tuesday before the first Wednesday in [June] February between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and at the discretion of the supervisors for extended hours.
3 Voters and Checklists; Change of Registration. Amend RSA 654:34, IV to read as follows:
IV. No person, who is already registered to vote, whether [his] their party membership has been previously registered or not, shall affiliate with a party or disaffiliate from a party between the first Wednesday in [June] February and the day before the state primary election.
4 Elections; Nominations by Primary; Filing: General Provisions. Amend RSA 655:14 to read as follows:
655:14 Filing; General Provisions. The name of any person shall not be printed upon the ballot of any party for a primary unless [he or she is] they are a registered member of that party, [he or she] they shall have met the age and domicile qualifications for the office he or she seeks at the time of the general election, [he or she meets] they meet all the other qualifications at the time of filing, and [he or she] they shall file with the appropriate official between the first Wednesday in [June] February and the Friday of the following week a declaration of candidacy as provided in RSA 655:17.
5 Elections; Nominations by Primary. Amend RSA 655:21 to read as follows:
655:21 Form. Primary petitions shall be made in the following form:
State of New Hampshire
County of ____________________ ss.
City (Town) of ____________________
I do hereby join in a petition for the printing on the primary ballot of the name of ____________________ whose domicile is in the city (town) of ______________ (ward, street, and number, if in a city), in the county of __________, for the office of ______________ to be voted for on Tuesday, the _____ day of [September] May, _____ (year), and certify that I am qualified to vote for a candidate for said office, that I am a registered member of the _____________ party, and am not at this time a signer of any other similar petition for any other candidate for the above office; that my domicile is in the city (town) of _____________ (ward, street, and number, if in a city), in the county of _____________. I certify that to my knowledge the above-named candidate is not a candidate for incompatible offices as defined in RSA 655:10, and that he or she is not a federal employee which makes him or her ineligible to file as a candidate for this office. I further certify that I believe the above-named person is especially qualified to fill said office.
I hereby swear, under the penalties for voting fraud set forth below, that the information above is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.
_________________________________
Print Voter's name
________________________________
Voter's Signature
In accordance with RSA 659:34, the penalty for knowingly or purposefully providing false information when registering to vote or voting is a class A misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of imprisonment not to exceed one year and a fine not to exceed $2,000. Fraudulently registering to vote or voting is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000.
6 Elections; Nomination by Primary; Examination and Rejection. Amend RSA 655:26 to read as follows:
655:26 Examination and Rejection. The officer with whom primary petitions are filed shall immediately upon receipt thereof examine the same and ascertain whether they conform to the law. If found not to conform thereto or to be conflicting as provided in RSA 655:23, [he] they shall then endorse thereon the reason why such petition cannot be accepted and shall, within 24 hours, return the same to the candidate in whose behalf it was filed. In such case, the candidate may file supplementary petitions with the official, but not later than the third Wednesday in [June] February.
7 Ballot Law Commission; Hearing Date. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 665:5, I to read as follows:
I. If necessary, the ballot law commission shall meet on the third Thursday of [September] May in each general election year and the third Friday following the presidential primary election in order to hear and decide:
8 Election Procedure; Canvass and Declaration: State Primary Election; Canvass and Declaration Generally. Amend RSA 659:86 to read as follows:
659:86 Canvass and Declaration Generally. Except as provided in RSA 659:87, when, for each political party having an official state primary election ballot, the secretary of state has received the returns for a nomination from all towns or wards comprising the elective district for that office, [he] they shall examine, record and total such returns and, for each political party, shall declare nominated for the office the same number of persons as the number of officers to which the district is entitled; provided that those persons declared nominated for the office shall be those persons who, on each party ballot, received the highest number of votes cast for the office, except as provided in RSA 659:91. If no person is declared nominated in a multi-candidate partisan federal primary election by reaching more than 50 percent of the total vote, then the next 2 candidates with the most votes from the primary will face off in a runoff election held the last Tuesday in June.
9 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.