Substitute House Bill No. 6532
Public Act No. 11-143
AN ACT CONCERNING THE PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE PRIMARY.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 9-464 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2011):
On the [first] last Tuesday in [February] April of each year in which the President of the United States is to be elected, each party shall conduct a primary in each town if the names of two or more candidates are to be placed on such party's ballot in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
Sec. 2. Section 9-466 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2011):
The secretary shall, at ten o'clock a. m. on the [seventy-eighth] seventy-fourth day preceding the day of the primary, publicly announce a list of candidates whose names are to be placed on the ballot of each party at such primary pursuant to subsection (a) of section 9-465. Forthwith upon announcing such list, said secretary shall notify each such candidate, by registered mail with return receipt requested, that his name will be included on the ballot unless he files with the secretary, not later than twelve o'clock p. m. of the [fortieth] thirty-sixth day before the primary, a written request, signed by the candidate, to the following effect: "I request that my name be omitted from the ballot at Connecticut's forthcoming . . . . (name of party) presidential preference primary". The name of any candidate who files a request as provided by this section, within the time specified, shall be omitted from the ballot, but no such withdrawal shall be honored if it is received later than the time specified by this section.
Sec. 3. Section 9-467 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2011):
On or after twelve o'clock noon of the [seventy-eighth] seventy-fourth day preceding the day of the primary, any person seeking the nomination of a party for President, whose name is not included in the list of candidates announced by the secretary pursuant to section 9-466, as amended by this act, or any person advocating the nomination of such person, by such party, may obtain petition pages from the secretary in the manner provided by this section. Such pages shall be in a form prescribed by the secretary and shall conform, as nearly as may be, to the requirements for primary petition forms provided in section 9-410. Any person requesting the petition pages shall give to the secretary, in writing, his name and address, the name and address of the candidate for whom the petition is to be circulated and the party holding the primary, and shall also file, or cause to be filed, with said secretary a written statement, signed by such candidate, to the effect that he consents to the inclusion of his name on the primary ballot of such party. Upon completion of these requirements, the secretary shall give to the person so requesting such petition pages one petition page, suitable for duplication. If the person is requesting the form on behalf of an indigent candidate, the secretary shall give the person the number of original pages that such person requests or the number of original pages that the secretary deems to be sufficient. The secretary shall also fill in on each petition page the name and address of the candidate, the words "nomination for President of the United States" as the designation of the office sought, and the name of the party conducting the primary.
Sec. 4. Section 9-468 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2011):
Except as hereinafter provided, such petitions shall be circulated, filed with the registrars of voters, and verified by said registrars, as nearly as may be, in accordance with the provisions of sections 9-410 and 9-412. Each page of such a petition shall be filed with the registrar of voters of the party holding the primary in the town of voting residence of the signers thereof, not later than four o'clock p. m. of the [fiftieth] fifty-third day preceding the day of the primary; and such registrar shall verify the signatures on each such page and forward it to the secretary not later than four o'clock p. m. of the [forty-sixth] forty-ninth day preceding the day of the primary. If, prior to such last day for filing such pages with the registrar, such a petition was issued under section 9-467, as amended by this act, the office or office facilities of each registrar of such party in each town shall open not later than one o'clock p. m. and remain open until at least four o'clock p. m. , and each such registrar or his deputy assistant registrar shall be present therein.
Sec. 5. Section 9-469 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2011):
The secretary shall complete tabulation of the signatures on such petitions not later than the [thirty-sixth] forty-sixth day preceding the day of the primary. The secretary shall place on the ballot of each party at the primary the name of each candidate whose petition has been signed by a number of enrolled members of such party equal to at least one per cent of the total number of enrolled members of such party in the state, according to the most recent enrollment records on file in the office of the secretary. No candidate who has filed a statement of consent pursuant to the provisions of section 9-467, as amended by this act, and whose name is placed on the ballot pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be permitted to withdraw his name from such ballot.