PRINTER'S NO. 1355
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.1207
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY ZIMMERMAN, B. MILLER, JAMES, HAMM, GAYDOS,
PICKETT, KAUFFMAN, FINK AND T. JONES, APRIL 15, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, APRIL 15, 2025
AN ACT
Amending the act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), entitled
"An act concerning elections, including general, municipal,
special and primary elections, the nomination of candidates,
primary and election expenses and election contests; creating
and defining membership of county boards of elections;
imposing duties upon the Secretary of the Commonwealth,
courts, county boards of elections, county commissioners;
imposing penalties for violation of the act, and codifying,
revising and consolidating the laws relating thereto; and
repealing certain acts and parts of acts relating to
elections," in the Secretary of the Commonwealth, further
providing for powers and duties of the Secretary of the
Commonwealth and for explanation of ballot question and
providing for wording of ballot question; in dates of
elections and primaries and special elections, further
providing for elections on proposed constitutional
amendments; in ballots, further providing for form of
official election ballot; in voting machines, further
providing for form of ballot labels on voting machines; and,
in preparation for and conduct of primaries and elections,
further providing for publishing constitutional amendments.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Sections 201(c) and 201.1 of the act of June 3,
1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), known as the Pennsylvania Election
Code, are amended to read:
Section 201. Powers and Duties of the Secretary of the
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27 Commonwealth.--The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall exercise
in the manner provided by this act all powers granted to him by
this act, and shall perform all the duties imposed upon him by
this act, which shall include the following:
* * *
(c) To certify to county boards of elections for primaries
and elections the names of the candidates for President and
Vice-President of the United States, presidential electors,
United States senators, representatives in Congress and all
State offices, including senators, representatives, and judges
of all courts of record, and delegates and alternate delegates
to National Conventions, and members of State committees, and
the form and wording of constitutional amendments , as prescribed
under section 201.2, or other questions to be submitted to the
electors of the State at large.
* * *
Section 201.1. Explanation of Ballot Question.-- (a)
Whenever a proposed constitutional amendment or other State-wide
ballot question shall be submitted to the electors of the
Commonwealth in referendum, the [ Attorney General] Legislative
Reference Bureau shall prepare a statement in plain English
which indicates the purpose, limitations and effects of the
ballot question on the people of the Commonwealth. The
Legislative Reference Bureau shall publish the statement in the
Pennsylvania Bulletin and transmit the statement to the
Secretary of the Commonwealth.
(b) The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall include [ such
statement in his] the statement under subsection (a) in the
publication of a proposed constitutional amendment as required
by Article XI of the Constitution of Pennsylvania.
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30 (c) The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall certify [ such
statement] the statement under subsection (a) to the county
boards of elections who shall publish [ such] the statement as a
part of the notice of elections required by section 1201 or any
other provision of this act.
(d) The county board of elections shall also require that at
least three copies of [ such statement] the statement under
subsection (a) be posted in or about the voting room outside the
enclosed space with the specimen ballots and other instructions
and notices of penalties.
(e) In election questions which affect only one county or
portion thereof, the county board of elections shall fulfill
these requirements in the place of the [ Attorney General]
Legislative Reference Bureau and the Secretary of the
Commonwealth.
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 201.2. Wording of Ballot Question.--Unless the
General Assembly prescribes otherwise with respect to a
particular proposed amendment or amendments through the
enactment of a statute, concurrent resolution or joint
resolution, the Legislative Reference Bureau shall prescribe the
wording of the question to be posed to the electors, publish the
wording of the question in the next available issue of the
Pennsylvania Bulletin and transmit the wording of the question
to the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Section 3. Sections 605, 1003(g), 1110(b) and 1201.2 of the
act are amended to read:
Section 605. Elections on Proposed Constitutional
Amendments.--Unless the General Assembly shall prescribe
otherwise with respect to any particular proposed amendment or
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30 amendments and the manner and time of submitting to the
qualified electors of the State any proposed amendment or
amendments to the Constitution for the purpose of ascertaining
whether the same shall be approved by a majority of those voting
thereon, the said amendment or amendments which have heretofore,
or which may hereafter be proposed, and which have not been
submitted to the qualified electors of the State, shall be
submitted to the qualified electors of the State for the purpose
aforesaid, at the first municipal or general election at which
such amendment or amendments may be legally submitted to the
electors, which election shall occur at least three months after
the date upon which such proposed amendment or amendments shall
have been agreed to for the second time by a majority of the
members elected to each house of the General Assembly, as
provided in Article Eighteen, section one of the Constitution.
Said election shall be conducted on said election day in the
manner prescribed by the provisions of this act. Such proposed
constitutional amendments shall be printed on the ballots or
ballot labels in brief form to be determined by the Secretary of
the Commonwealth with the approval of the Attorney General. The
wording of the question shall be as prescribed under section
201.2.
Section 1003. Form of Official Election Ballot.--
* * *
(g) The official ballots shall vary in form only as the
names of districts, offices, candidates or the provisions of
this act may require. When constitutional amendments or other
questions are submitted to a vote of the electors, each
amendment or other question so submitted may be printed upon the
ballot below the groups of candidates for the various offices,
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30 and, when required by law, shall be so printed. Constitutional
amendments so submitted shall be printed in brief form, to be
determined by the Secretary of the Commonwealth and as
prescribed under section 201.2 , and other questions so submitted
shall be printed in brief form, to be determined by the
Secretary of the Commonwealth in the case of questions to be
voted on by the electors of the State at large and as prescribed
under section 201.2, and by the county boards in other cases. To
the right of each question there shall be placed the words "yes"
and "no," together with appropriate squares to the right of each
for the convenient insertion of a cross mark.
Section 1110. Form of Ballot Labels on Voting Machines.--
* * *
(b) If the construction of the machine shall require it, the
ballot label for each candidate, group of candidates, political
party, or question, to be voted on, shall bear the designating
letter or number of the counter on the voting machine which will
register or record votes therefor. Each question to be voted on
shall appear on the ballot labels, in brief form, of not more
than seventy-five words, to be determined by the Secretary of
the Commonwealth in the case of constitutional amendments or
other questions to be voted on by the electors of the State at
large and as prescribed under section 201.2 , and by the county
election board in other cases.
* * *
Section 1201.2. Publishing Constitutional Amendments.-- (a)
In accordance with the requirements of section 1 of Article XI
of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, the Secretary of the
Commonwealth shall cause to have published in the manner
prescribed all proposed amendments to the Constitution of
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30 Pennsylvania. A publication under this subsection shall also
include the wording of the ballot question transmitted to the
Secretary of the Commonwealth under section 201.2.
(b) Whenever a proposed constitutional amendment or other
State-wide ballot question is submitted to the electors of the
Commonwealth in referendum, the Secretary of the Commonwealth
shall cause the explanation of the ballot question transmitted
to the Secretary of the Commonwealth under section 201.1 to be
included with the publication under subsection (a).
(c) As much of the money, from time to time, in the General
Fund as shall be deemed necessary by the Governor is hereby
appropriated to the Department of State to pay the costs of
[such] publications under this section.
Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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