Revision: Jan. 5, 2023, 9:52 a.m.
2023 SESSION
23-0907.0
06/08
SENATE BILL [bill number]
AN ACT relative to changing the date of the state primary election and candidate nomination.
SPONSORS: [sponsors]
COMMITTEE: [committee]
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ANALYSIS
This bill separates state primary elections from federal primary elections and sets the federal primary election to the second Tuesday in May.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
23-0907.0
06/08
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Three
AN ACT relative to changing the date of the state primary election and candidate nomination.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 General Provisions; State Primary Election. Amend RSA 652:5 to read as follows:
652:5 State Primary Election. "State primary election" shall mean an election to nominate a candidate for [federal,] state[,] or county office or to choose a delegate to a state party convention.
2 New Section; Federal Primary Election. Amend RSA 652 by inserting after section 5 the following new section:
652:5-a Federal Primary Election. "Federal primary election" shall mean an election to nominate a candidate for federal office.
3 New Section; Election of Officers and Delegates; Election Dates; Federal Primary Election. Amend RSA 653 by inserting after section 8 the following new section:
653:8-a Federal Primary Election. The federal primary election shall be held on the second Tuesday in May of every even-numbered year.
4 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, or federal 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 between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and at the discretion of the supervisors for extended hours. Before the federal primary election, the session shall be on the Tuesday before the first Wednesday in the preceding March between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and at the discretion of the supervisors for extended hours.
5 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 and the day before the state primary election or the first Wednesday in the preceding March before the federal primary election.
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 state 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.
7 Ballot Law Commission; Hearing Date. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 665:5 to read as follows:
I. If necessary, the ballot law commission shall meet on the third Thursday of September in each general election year and the third Friday of May following the presidential and federal 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 persons declared nominated in a multi-candidate partisan federal primary election or presidential primary election reaches more than 50 percent of the total vote, then the next two candidates with the most votes from the primary will face off in a run-off election held the second Tuesday in June.
9 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.