This bill simplifies ballot requirements for primary elections by requiring county auditors to include all precinct committeeman and committeewoman candidates on ballots, and requiring judicial candidates to appear without party designations in the order set by the Secretary of State. The bill repeals two existing provisions (sections 12-9-13 and 12-13-11) that previously contained different ballot rules, streamlining the overall election process. The law takes effect immediately upon passage as an emergency measure.
The amendment reordered and restructured the bill's sections, moving the repeal of § 12-13-11 (which concerns ballot printing requirements for constitutional amendments and measures) from Section 3 to Section 4, and adding a new Section 3 that establishes the State Board of Elections's authority to prescribe the form of nonpolitical judiciary ballots. This change NARROWS the bill's scope by removing substantive amendments to § 12-13-11 and instead simply repealing it outright.
This change converts the bill from an engrossed working version to its enrolled final form, removing the legislative markup formatting (underscores and strikethrough indicators) and substantive bill text while adding signature pages and certification blocks for executive approval. The substantive changes to ballot requirements—consolidating precinct committeeman/committeewoman positions onto official primary ballots, streamlining judicial candidate ballot procedures, and repealing separate ballot requirements—remain unchanged; this is purely a formatting and administrative finalization of the bill.
Signed by the Governor S.J. 474
Delivered to the Governor S.J. 455
Signed by the Speaker H.J. 493
Signed by the President S.J. 434
House of Representatives Do Pass Amended Passed, YEAS 61, NAYS 5. H.J. 460
State Affairs Do Pass Passed, YEAS 11, NAYS 0.
State Affairs Scheduled for hearing
House of Representatives Referred to House State Affairs H.J. 247
First Reading House H.J. 238
Senate Do Pass Amended Passed, YEAS 34, NAYS 0. S.J. 183
State Affairs Do Pass Amended Passed, YEAS 9, NAYS 0. S.J. 11
State Affairs Motion to amend S.J. 11
State Affairs Scheduled for hearing S.J. 1
First read in Senate and referred to Senate State Affairs S.J. 15
Do Pass Amended
State Affairs — Do Pass
Do Pass Amended
State Affairs — Do Pass Amended