HB 3593 Print candidate names multiple times for each party on ballot

This bill requires the name of each candidate to be separately printed on the ballot with name of each political party that nominated the candidate and allows votes cast for candidate and minor political party that nominated candidate to be used to maintain status as minor political party.

Under current law, the name of a candidate may only be printed on the ballot in one place, regardless of how many times the candidate is nominated. The names of the political parties who nominated the candidate are printed after the name of the candidate limited to 3 parties. It is also subject to rules depending on whether a candidate is or is not affiliated with a political party, which doesn’t seem to be enforced or very loose.

A minor political party can maintain ballot access in one of two ways: (1) maintain voter registration equal to one-half of one percent of the total number of registered electors in the state as members of the party; or, (2) maintain a voter registration equal to at least one-tenth of one percent of the total votes cast for Governor and for President in general election years.

HB 3593 requires name of each candidate to be separately printed on ballot for each political party that nominated  the candidate. The limit of 3 means a candidate’s name can appear 3 times for the same position, and to make matters more confusing, if you vote for a person listed multiple times, regardless of which party you vote under, the vote will be counted for the party with the smallest number of members – that’s how the bill is written. It says so the party can maintain their minority party status, but if all the votes are suddenly counted for the smallest party, won’t that qualify them as a major party without membership backing?

The bill is poorly written. I assume the elector is to choose the name and party and only count those selecting the minor party to be counted for membership. But, if that is what it means, why state it is counted for the smallest party? This means that electors could choose to support a minor party but maintain voter registration with a major party to participate in the Primary Election. This is a way to qualify minor parties without the framework of membership to even run a political party. Or allow a minor party to sway the primary election.

This wouldn’t fit in the ranked-choice voting. Talk about voter confusion coupled with voter fraud programing computers to tally like names.