Effective: July 2, 2010
Latest Legislation: House Bill 48 – 128th General Assembly
(A) Candidates for delegate and alternate to the national convention of a political party shall be represented on the ballot, or their names shall appear on the ballot, in accordance with this section, but only in a manner that enables an elector to record the vote in the space provided for it by the name of the first choice for president so that the recording of the vote is counted as a vote cast for each candidate for delegate or alternate who has declared such person as that candidate’s first choice for president.
(B) The names of candidates for delegate at large and alternate at large to the national convention of a political party shall not appear on the ballot. Such candidates shall be represented on the ballot by their stated first choice for president.
(C) The state central committee of each major political party, through its chairperson, not later than ninety days prior to the date of the presidential primary election, shall file with the secretary of state a statement that stipulates, in accordance with rules adopted by each state central committee at a meeting open to all members of the committee’s party, whether or not the names of candidates for district delegate and district alternate to the national convention of that chairperson’s party are to be printed on the ballot. The secretary of state shall prescribe the form of the ballot for the election of district delegates and district alternates of each political party in accordance with such statement. If the state central committee of a political party fails to so provide such statement, the secretary of state shall prescribe a form of ballot on which the names of candidates for delegate and alternate to such national convention do not appear on the ballot. Only the names of the presidential first choices of such candidates for delegates and alternates shall appear on the ballot. If only the names of presidential first choices are printed, the ballot shall provide the opportunity for an elector to record the vote in the appropriate space provided beside such names and such a vote cast shall be counted as a vote for each candidate for delegate and alternate who has declared such person as that candidate’s first choice for president.
If the number of candidates for district delegate or for district alternate to the national convention of a political party exceeds the number to be elected, the names of such candidates, when required to appear on the ballot, shall not be rotated, but shall be printed in a group on the ballot in alphabetical order immediately below or beside first choice for president. This form of the ballot shall be prescribed by the secretary so that the recording of the vote in the space provided beside the name of such choice for president shall be a vote for each candidate whose name is included in the grouping.
(D) Candidates, grouped by first choice for president, shall be rotated in the same manner as though each grouping were a separate candidate. As many series of ballots shall be printed as the number of groups to be rotated, with the total number of ballots to be printed divided by the number of series to be printed in order to determine the number of ballots to be printed of each series. On the first series of ballots, the candidates shall be alphabetically grouped by their first choice for president. On each succeeding series, the group of candidates that was the first in the preceding series shall be last and each of the other groups shall be moved up one place. The ballots shall be rotated and printed as provided in section 3505.03 of the Revised Code, except that no indication of membership in or affiliation with a political party shall be printed after or under the candidate’s name.
(E) The state central committee of each major political party, through its chairperson, not later than the fifteenth day prior to the date of the presidential primary election, shall file with the secretary of state the rules of its political party adopted by the state central committee at a meeting open to all members of the committee’s party, which affect the issuance of certificates of election to candidates for delegate or alternate to its party nominating convention, and the secretary of state shall issue certificates of election in accordance with such rules.
(F) If party rules prescribe that fewer than all such candidates for delegate and alternate are to be elected, certificates of election shall be issued in the order preferred by the first choice for president and in such numbers that the number of delegates and alternates certified as elected reflects, as nearly as possible, the proportion to be elected under the party rules.
(G) If the state central committee of a political party fails to file the rules with the secretary of state pursuant to this section, certificates of election shall be issued to the candidates for delegate and alternate receiving the highest number of votes.