HB2597 - 451R - House Bill Summary

House of Representatives

HB 2597

political party recognition; organization

Sponsors: Poelstra

X	Committee on Retirement & Government Operations
	Committee on Judiciary
	Caucus and COW
	As Passed the House

HB 2597 makes numerous statutory changes regarding political party recognition and organization.

History

ARS § 16-801specifies various eligibility requirements for the representation of a new party on a ballot at primary and general elections. Eligibility for recognition requires a new political party be represented by an official party ballot at the next regular primary election, be granted a column on the following general election ballot and file a petition with the Secretary of State signed by a number of qualified electors equal to not less than one and one-third per cent of the total votes for governor or presidential electors at the last general election. The petition must be certified by the county recorder of each county that the signatures are of qualified electors of the county and the petition must be verified by the affidavit of 10 qualified electors of the state asking that the signers be recognized as a new political party.

Currently, candidates are required at a primary election to be a qualified elector of that party. Specifications must be met at the federal, state, county, city and town levels within the arena of political nominations such as representation for elections, the filing of petition for recognition, continued representation, form and content of ballots and the placing of names. The chairman of the state committee of a political party is required to appoint candidates for the office of presidential elector and submit a written nomination paper and affidavit which includes facts of residency and qualification to hold office at the time of the election. Currently, statute addresses the placement of names on a ballot if two or more candidates of the same political party are nominated for the same office. Poll lists are to be prepared in triplicate lists and upon completion of each page a copy must immediately be given to a representative of each of the two major political parties, defined as the two parties receiving the highest number of votes for governor or presidential electors of the last election. A political organization that cast for governor or presidential electors or county attorney or mayor not less than five per cent of the total votes is entitled to continued representation on the official ballot as a political party.

Provisions

· Removes the requirement that any person desiring to become a candidate at a primary election for a political party shall be a qualified elector of such party.

· Allows the chairman of a new political party that qualifies for the official ballot or the chairman of a state committee that qualifies for continued representation on the official ballot for federal and state officers (continued representation) to appoint candidates for the office of presidential elector equal to the number of United States senators and representatives in Congress.

· Requires the chairman of the new political party to submit the name of that party’s presidential nominee to the Secretary of State (SOS) at least 60 days before the general election. The nominee’s name must appear on the general election ballot next to the names of that party’s candidates for the office of presidential elector.

· Authorizes the SOS to certify as elected the group of candidates for the office of presidential elector with the highest number of votes in the general election.

· Requires each presidential elector to notify the SOS, by 10:00 A.M. on the date chosen by Congress to elect a president and vice-president of the United States, that the elector is present in the county of the state capitol and ready to perform the duties of a presidential elector. All electors must meet by 12:00 P.M. on that day and perform the duties required of them by the constitution and laws of the United States.

· Requires the SOS to provide all presidential electors present at the designated time with a certificate of the names of all the electors. Electors are given the authority to elect one person for each vacancy left by the absence of an elector. This election must be in the presence of the SOS or the SOS’s designee.

· Permits the person with the highest number of votes to fill the vacancy in the office of presidential elector. If there is a tie, the SOS or the SOS’s designee shall determine by lot the winner.

· Requires the name of a candidate who has received the nomination of two or more political parties to appear on the ballot adjacent to the names of each political party, and allows the candidate to select the order of the political parties, which will determine the arrangement of the candidate’s name on the ballot.

· Allows presidential elector candidates nominated other than by primary election to be included on the ballot of presidential electors if all requirements of law have been met.

· Requires an election board clerk to keep a legible and complete poll list.

· Authorizes the county chairman or the state chairman, in the absence of the county chairman, to receive each page of the poll list immediately upon completion.

· Removes the definition of major political party.

· Entitles a political organization that received not less than five per cent of the total votes cast to representation on the ballot for state officers or officers of such county or local subdivisions.

· Includes the official ballot for federal elections in a political organization’s entitlement to continued representation, if on November 1 of the year preceding the general election such party has registered electors in the party equal to at least two-thirds of one per cent of the total registered electors in that corresponding jurisdiction.

· Authorizes the SOS to determine the political parties qualified for continued representation on the state ballot for federal and state officers by February 1 of the general election year.

· Authorizes the county recorder to determine the political parties qualified for continued representation on the county ballot for county officers by February 1 of the year in which the general election is held.

· Authorizes the city or town clerk to determine the political parties qualified for continued representation on the city or town ballot for city or town officers 140 days before the primary.

· States that a party is eligible to be represented on a ballot, pursuant to this section, without qualifying as a new political party as prescribed by law.

· Requires the State Treasurer to distribute monies in the fund to the treasurers of new political parties that have qualified for the official ballot and to the treasurers of state committees of political parties that qualify for continued representation, according to the party designated on the contribution.

· Stipulates that in order for a new political party or a political party that is qualified for continued representation to use a portion or all of the name of a national political party in its title, name or in corresponding abbreviations or symbols, the political party must be recognized by that national political party’s governing body as this state’s affiliate of that national political party.

· Prohibits a person, group or organization from using the name, abbreviation or symbol of any political party without written permission from the state chairman of a new political party or the chairman of the state committee of a political party that qualifies for continued representation.

· Permits the use of the name, abbreviation or symbol of a national political party, within this state, by the state affiliate of that national party with the written permission of the governing body or the chairman of that national political party.

· Requires the SOS, county recorders, city and town clerks and all officers in charge of elections to recognize the state affiliate of a political party as the only state party that represents the national political party in state, county, city or town elections.

· Allows members who reside in each precinct of this state and who are members of a political party entitled to continued representation at the primary election to choose one of their members who resides in that precinct as a county precinct chairman, and permits members who reside in each precinct of the state to choose one additional precinct chairman for each 125 votes or major fraction thereof registered in the members’ party who resides in that precinct.

· Allows a precinct committeeman to fill a vacancy and serve until a committeeman’s successor is elected, appointed or qualified. The precinct committeemen should present evidence of prior election or appointment to the legislative district committee chairman or the county committee chairman on or before the date of that committee’s organizing meeting.

· Allows a political party that is entitled to continued presentation to establish a district party committee for any legislative district as prescribed by law.

· Requires each district party committee to meet, no later than the first Saturday in December after the general election, and elect from its political party’s membership the governing officers for that district party committee.

· Requires each district party committee to meet, after the effective date of reapportionment legislation, and elect from the party’s membership the governing officers of that district party.

· Requires the county committee to meet, no earlier than 10 days after the last organization meeting of the legislative districts, and elect its governing officers from the political party’s membership.

· Requires the state committee to meet, in the county of the state capitol, and elect the governing officers for the state party from its political party’s membership.

· Removes district committee from the definition of political organization.

· Defines political party as:

1) A political committee that qualifies as a new political party.

2) The state committee, each county committee or each legislative district committee of an organization that meets the requirements for recognition as a political party that is entitled to continued representation.

· Makes technical and conforming changes.

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· 45th Legislature