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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 5820
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4533
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION
AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A TASK FORCE TO STUD Y RANKED-
CHOICE VOTING.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) There is established a task force 1
to study the implementation for state or municipal elections of a 2
method known as ranked-choice voting, or the casting and tabulating 3
of votes in which (1) voters rank candidates in order of preference, (2) 4
tabulation proceeds in sequential rounds in which last-place 5
candidates are defeated and until one candidate receives over fifty per 6
cent of the votes cast, and (3) the candidate receiving over fifty per cent 7
of the votes cast is deemed to have been elected to such office. Such 8
study shall include, but need not be limited to, an examination of the 9
feasibility of implementing such method in the state, what current 10
election administration processes would need to be changed to 11
effectuate such a method, any potential costs, issues and benefits 12
relating to such method and any recommended statutory changes 13
necessary to implement such method. 14
(b) The task force shall consist of the following members: 15 Committee Bill No. 5820
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(1) Two appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, 16
one of whom has expertise in election administration; 17
(2) Two appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, one 18
of whom is a registrar of voters; 19
(3) One appointed by the majority leader of the House of 20
Representatives, who is a town clerk; 21
(4) One appointed by the majority leader of the Senate, who has 22
expertise in municipal elections; 23
(5) One appointed by the minority leader of the House of 24
Representatives, who has expertise in state elections; 25
(6) One appointed by the minority leader of the Senate, who is a 26
registrar of voters; 27
(7) The Secretary of the State, or the secretary's designee; and 28
(8) The executive director of the State Elections Enforcement 29
Commission, or the executive director's designee. 30
(c) Any member of the task force appointed under subdivision (1), 31
(2), (3), (4), (5) or (6) of subsection (b) of this section may be a member 32
of the General Assembly. 33
(d) All appointments to the task force shall be made not later than 34
thirty days after the effective date of this section. Any vacancy shall be 35
filled by the appointing authority. 36
(e) The speaker of the House of Representatives and the president 37
pro tempore of the Senate shall select the chairpersons of the task force 38
from among the members of the task force. Such chairpersons shall 39
schedule the first meeting of the task force, which shall be held not 40
later than sixty days after the effective date of this section. 41
(f) The administrative staff of the joint standing committee of the 42 Committee Bill No. 5820
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General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to elections 43
shall serve as administrative staff of the task force. 44
(g) Not later than January 1, 2020, the task force shall submit a 45
report on its findings and recommendations to the joint standing 46
committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 47
relating to elections, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a 48
of the general statutes. The task force shall terminate on the date that it 49
submits such report or January 1, 2020, whichever is later. 50
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
GAE Joint Favorable