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A bill to be entitled

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An act relating to presidential preference primary

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elections; amending s. 103.101, F.S.; providing that a

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voter who has no party affiliation may vote in either the

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Republican or Democratic primary; requiring that the names

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of all the candidates in both the Republican and

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Democratic primaries be placed in a specified position on

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the ballot used by voters having no party affiliation;

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providing an exception; providing for the arrangement of

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the names of candidates on such ballots; authorizing each

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contest of a contested Republican or Democratic primary to

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be treated as a universal primary contest pursuant to the

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State Constitution for purposes of tabulating and

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reporting results; providing an effective date.

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Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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     Section 1.  Subsection (4) of section 103.101, Florida

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Statutes, is amended to read:

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     103.101  Presidential preference primary.--

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     (4)(a) The names of candidates for political party

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nominations for President of the United States shall be printed

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on official ballots for the presidential preference primary

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election and shall be marked, counted, canvassed, returned, and

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proclaimed in the same manner and under the same conditions, so

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far as they are applicable, as in other state elections, except

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that a voter who has no party affiliation may vote in either the

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Republican or Democratic primary. If party rule requires the

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delegates' names to be printed on the official presidential

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preference primary ballot, the name of the presidential

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candidates for that political party may not be printed

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separately, but the ballot may reflect the presidential candidate

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to whom the delegate is pledged. If, however, a political party

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has only one presidential candidate, neither the name of the

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candidate nor the names of the candidate's delegates shall not be

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printed on the ballot.

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     (b) Ballots for voters having no party affiliation shall

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contain the names of all the candidates in both the Republican

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and Democratic presidential preference primaries beneath the

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heading "PRESIDENT (Vote for One)," followed by any other races

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or issues on the ballot. The names of candidates shall be

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arranged alphabetically as to surname, together with an

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appropriate three-letter abbreviation of party name. However, if

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a political party has only one presidential candidate, the name

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of that candidate shall not be printed on the ballot. For

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purposes of tabulating and reporting results of a contested

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Republican or Democratic presidential preference primary, each

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race may be treated as a universal primary contest pursuant to

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Art. VI, s. 5(b) of the State Constitution.

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     Section 2.  This act shall take effect January 1, 2009.