HB 1099 — Summary (North Dakota)
Status / Timeline
- Title: AN ACT to amend and reenact section 16.1-06-07.1 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to the printing of presidential candidate names on a general election ballot.
- Introduced: November 12, 2024
- Most recent status provided: Filed with Secretary of State (04/03).
- Current effect: As presented, the bill makes a technical change to statutory ballot layout rules; check the Secretary of State or legislative website for final enactment/approval and effective date.
Purpose and intent
- The bill clarifies and prescribes how presidential candidates’ names and presidential electors must appear on general election ballots. Its intent is purely procedural/formatting — to standardize placement, type style, and the voter mark (oval) used to select presidential electors.
Key provisions (what the bill changes)
- Designation and order:
- Requires that in presidential election years the office designation “President and Vice President” appear as the first listing in the continuous column of offices on the ballot.
- Requires presidential electors (from a single certificate of nomination) to be shown as a grouped list enclosed in brackets under the president/vice president designation on the right side of the ballot column.
- Candidate name placement and marking:
- Directs that, to the left and opposite the center of each group of electors’ names, the presidential candidate’s name (surname and first name) must be printed in bold type.
- Requires a single oval to be placed in line with the candidate’s name; a mark in that oval by the voter constitutes a vote for all electors in that group.
- Requires the candidate’s party designation to appear beneath the candidate’s name in smaller type.
- Voting effect: A single marked oval adjacent to a presidential candidate’s name is explicitly designated as a vote for all electors listed in that corresponding group.
Who is affected / likely impacts
- Election administrators and ballot printers: Must adapt ballot templates and printing procedures to conform to the specified placement, typeface emphasis (bold), size differences for party designation, bracket grouping, and oval placement.
- Polling officials and county auditors: May need to update ballot-editing, proofing, and voter instruction materials to reflect the layout and explain the single-oval voting convention.
- Voters: No change to voting method substantively (a single mark still selects a slate of electors), but the standardized layout could affect clarity and ease of use.
- Costs/operations: Changes are procedural and limited to ballot design/printing; any cost impact would be administrative (design, testing, potential reprinting) and is likely modest.
Notes / Implementation
- The statutory language is prescriptive about placement and typography but leaves operational details (exact font sizes, exact positioning) to election officials/printers to implement consistent with the statute.
- Verify final status and effective date with the Secretary of State or legislative records before implementation; if enacted, local election authorities will need to ensure ballot files and voting-system displays comply prior to the next presidential election.
