This bill provides for open primary elections for the elections for United States Senator, United States Representative to Congress, Governor, State Senator and State Representative. All of the candidates for those offices, including candidates enrolled in a party and unenrolled candidates, must appear on the same open primary ballot. All qualified voters, regardless of enrollment status, are eligible to vote in open primary elections. The votes in an open primary election must be tabulated using ranked-choice voting, except that, for the office of Governor, State Senator or State Representative, the 2 candidates who receive the most votes are declared the winners of the open primary and, for the office of United States Senator or United States Representative to Congress, the 4 candidates who receive the most votes are declared winners of the open primary. The names of the winners of an open primary must appear on the ballot for the general election. The winner of the general election for the office of United States Senator or United States Representative to Congress is determined by ranked-choice voting. If one of the candidates who received the most votes at the open primary dies or becomes disqualified before the general election, that candidate's name must remain on the ballot and the voters must be notified that a vote for that candidate will be counted and, if that candidate is declared the winner of the election, a vacancy will be declared at the beginning of the term of the office for which the candidate was elected. Voters may not vote for a write-in candidate in a general election that was preceded by an open primary election. The bill also provides that, in a year in which there is a presidential election, an open primary must be held on the same day as the presidential primary.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 1959, SP 795: 21-A.1, 21-A.144, 21-A.321, 21-A.334, 21-A.336, 21-A.338, 21-A.339, 21-A.340, 21-A.351, 21-A.354, 21-A.355, 21-A.361, 21-A.367, 21-A.371, 21-A.374, 21-A.376, 21-A.441, 21-A.601, 21-A.651, 21-A.673, 21-A.692, 21-A.722, 21-A.723, 21-A.732, 21-A.759, 21-A.812, 21-A.825, 21-A.843