| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to presidential preference primary |
| 3 | elections; amending s. 103.101, F.S.; providing that a |
| 4 | voter who has no party affiliation may vote in either the |
| 5 | Republican or Democratic primary; requiring that the names |
| 6 | of all the candidates in both the Republican and |
| 7 | Democratic primaries be placed in a specified position on |
| 8 | the ballot used by voters having no party affiliation; |
| 9 | providing an exception; providing for the arrangement of |
| 10 | the names of candidates on such ballots; authorizing each |
| 11 | contest of a contested Republican or Democratic primary to |
| 12 | be treated as a universal primary contest pursuant to the |
| 13 | State Constitution for purposes of tabulating and |
| 14 | reporting results; providing an effective date. |
| 15 |
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| 16 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 17 |
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| 18 | Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 103.101, Florida |
| 19 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 20 | 103.101 Presidential preference primary.-- |
| 21 | (4)(a) The names of candidates for political party |
| 22 | nominations for President of the United States shall be printed |
| 23 | on official ballots for the presidential preference primary |
| 24 | election and shall be marked, counted, canvassed, returned, and |
| 25 | proclaimed in the same manner and under the same conditions, so |
| 26 | far as they are applicable, as in other state elections, except |
| 27 | that a voter who has no party affiliation may vote in either the |
| 28 | Republican or Democratic primary. If party rule requires the |
| 29 | delegates' names to be printed on the official presidential |
| 30 | preference primary ballot, the name of the presidential |
| 31 | candidates for that political party may not be printed |
| 32 | separately, but the ballot may reflect the presidential |
| 33 | candidate to whom the delegate is pledged. If, however, a |
| 34 | political party has only one presidential candidate, neither the |
| 35 | name of the candidate nor the names of the candidate's delegates |
| 36 | shall not be printed on the ballot. |
| 37 | (b) Ballots for voters having no party affiliation shall |
| 38 | contain the names of all the candidates in both the Republican |
| 39 | and Democratic presidential preference primaries beneath the |
| 40 | heading "PRESIDENT (Vote for One)," followed by any other races |
| 41 | or issues on the ballot. The names of candidates shall be |
| 42 | arranged alphabetically as to surname, together with an |
| 43 | appropriate three-letter abbreviation of party name. However, if |
| 44 | a political party has only one presidential candidate, the name |
| 45 | of that candidate shall not be printed on the ballot. For |
| 46 | purposes of tabulating and reporting results of a contested |
| 47 | Republican or Democratic presidential preference primary, each |
| 48 | race may be treated as a universal primary contest pursuant to |
| 49 | s. 5(b), Art. VI of the State Constitution. |
| 50 | Section 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2009. |