S-3981.1  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 6804

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington   57th Legislature        2002 Regular Session

By Senator Hochstatter

Read first time 02/07/2002.  Referred to Committee on State & Local Government.

Prohibiting political party designation on election ballots.

    AN ACT Relating to political party designation on election ballots; and amending RCW 29.30.020.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

    Sec. 1.  RCW 29.30.020 and 2001 c 30 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) The positions or offices on a primary ballot shall be arranged in substantially the following order:  United States senator; United States representative; governor; lieutenant governor; secretary of state; state treasurer; state auditor; attorney general; commissioner of public lands; superintendent of public instruction; insurance commissioner; state senator; state representative; county officers; justices of the supreme court; judges of the court of appeals; judges of the superior court; and judges of the district court.  For all other jurisdictions on the primary ballot, the offices in each jurisdiction shall be grouped together and be in the order of the position numbers assigned to those offices, if any.

    (2) The order of the positions or offices on an election ballot shall be substantially the same as on a primary ballot except that the offices of president and vice president of the United States shall precede all other offices on a presidential election ballot.  State ballot issues shall be placed before all offices on an election ballot.  The positions on a ballot to be assigned to ballot measures regarding local units of government shall be established by the secretary of state by rule.

    (3) The political party or independent candidacy of each candidate for partisan office shall not be indicated ((next to the name of the candidate)) on the primary and election ballot.  ((A candidate shall file a written notice with the filing officer within three business days after the close of the filing period designating the political party to be indicated next to the candidate's name on the ballot if either:  (a) The candidate has been nominated by two or more minor political parties or independent conventions; or (b) the candidate has both filed a declaration of candidacy declaring an affiliation with a major political party and been nominated by a minor political party or independent convention.  If no written notice is filed the filing officer shall give effect to the party designation shown upon the first document filed.  A candidate may be deemed nominated by a minor party or independent convention only if all documentation required by chapter 29.24 RCW has been timely filed.))

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