GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2015
H 1
HOUSE BILL 457
|
Short Title: Elections Clarifications. |
(Public) |
|
|
Sponsors: |
Representatives Lewis, Jones, and Speciale (Primary Sponsors). For a complete list of Sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly Web Site. |
|
|
Referred to: |
Elections. |
|
April 2, 2015
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to make technical and clarifying changes to the elections laws.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. G.S. 163‑213.2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 163‑213.2. Primary to be held; date; qualifications and registration of voters.
On the Tuesday after the first Monday in May, 1992, March
2016 and every four years thereafter, the voters of this State shall be
given an opportunity to express their preference for the person to be the
presidential candidate of their political party, except that if South
Carolina holds its presidential primary before the 15th day of March, the North
Carolina presidential preference primary shall be held on the Tuesday after the
first South Carolina presidential preference primary of that year.party.
Any person otherwise qualified who will become qualified by age to vote in the general election held in the same year of the presidential preference primary shall be entitled to register and vote in the presidential preference primary. Such persons may register not earlier than 60 days nor later than the last day for making application to register under G.S. 163‑82.6 prior to the said primary. In addition, persons who will become qualified by age to register and vote in the general election for which the primary is held, who do not register during the special period may register to vote after such period as if they were qualified on the basis of age, but until they are qualified by age to vote, they may vote only in primary elections."
SECTION 2. G.S. 163‑213.4 reads as rewritten:
"§ 163‑213.4. Nomination by State Board of Elections.
No later than 90 days preceding the North Carolina
presidential preference primary, the chair of each political party shall submit
to the State Board of Elections a list of its presidential candidates to be
placed on the presidential preference primary ballot. The list must be
comprised of candidates whose candidacy is generally advocated and recognized
in the news media throughout the United States or in North Carolina, unless any
such candidate executes and files with the chair of the political party an
affidavit stating without qualification that the candidate is not and does not
intend to become a candidate for nomination in the North Carolina Presidential
Preference Primary Election. The State Board of Elections shall prepare and
publish a list of the names of the presidential candidates submitted. The State
Board of Elections shall convene in Raleigh on the first Tuesday in March preceding
the presidential preference primary election. At the meeting required by this
section, the State Board of Elections shall nominate as presidential primary
candidates all candidates affiliated with a political party, recognized
pursuant to the provisions of Article 9 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes,
who have been submitted to the State Board of Elections. Additionally, the
State Board of Elections, by vote of at least three of its members in the
affirmative, may nominate as a presidential primary candidate any other person affiliated
with a political party that it finds is generally advocated and recognized in
the news media throughout the United States or in North Carolina as candidates
for the nomination by that party. Immediately upon completion of these
requirements, the Board shall release to the news media all such nominees
selected. Provided, however, nothing shall prohibit the partial selection of
nominees prior to the meeting required by this section, if all provisions
herein have been complied with."
SECTION 3. This act is effective when it becomes law.