2001 SESSION

01-0364

03/10

HOUSE BILL 633

COMMITTEE: Election Law

ANALYSIS

This bill provides that the order of names within a party grouping on the state general election ballot shall be determined by a random drawing held by the secretary of state.

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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

01-0364

03/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand One

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 State General Election; Listing Candidates on Ballot; Order. Amend RSA 656:5, II to read as follows:

II. All candidates for the same office shall be placed on separate lines within a separate box. The name of each candidate shall be grouped according to the party which nominates the candidate, and the names of the candidates of the party which received the largest number of votes at the last preceding state general election shall be listed first. The names of the candidates shall be printed with the given name first. On the day immediately preceding the first day on which candidates may file for the primary election, the secretary of state shall hold a public drawing in the secretary of state's office to pick randomly one letter of the alphabet for that election year. [, and] The candidates shall be listed alphabetically according to their surnames within each party grouping. The letter picked for that election year shall be treated as the first letter of the alphabet, and alphabetization shall follow from that letter forward to the letter immediately preceding the letter picked. For example, if the letter "t" is picked, alphabetization shall proceed from "t" to "z", and then from "a" to "s". Should more than one candidate's surname begin with the same letter, the first letter in the surnames which is different shall be the letter to determine placement of the names on the ballot. The name of the party which nominates the candidate shall be printed near the candidate's name, except that, notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, no candidate may receive the nomination of more than one political party or appear on the ballot more than once as a candidate for the same office.

2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.