Sec. 5. 21-A MRSA §603, sub-§7 is enacted to read:

7.__Include with absentee ballot.__A clerk shall provide a sample ballot with each absentee ballot.

Sec. 6. 21-A MRSA §625, as amended by PL 1997, c. 436, §87, is further amended by adding at the end a new paragraph to read:

The clerk shall post a sample ballot in or near each voting booth on election day.

Sec. 7. 21-A MRSA §722, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2001, c. 516, §13, is further amended to read:

1. How tabulated. The Secretary of State shall tabulate all votes that appear by an election return to have been cast for each question or candidate whose name appeared on the ballot. For offices subject to the instant run-off voting method, the Secretary of State must tabulate the votes according to the instant run-off voting method described in section 726. All write-in candidates, as defined in section 1, subsection 51, receiving less than 5% of the votes cast for that office must be titled "others" when the tabulation is processed.

Sec. 8. 21-A MRSA §723, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2001, c. 516, §15, is further amended to read:

2. Other elections. In any other election, the person who receives a plurality of the votes cast for election to any office, as long as there is at least one vote cast for that office, is elected to that office, except that write-in candidates must also comply with section 722-A.:

A.__Write-in candidates must also comply with section 722-A; and

B.__For offices subject to the instant run-off voting method, the person who is determined to be the winner under the instant run-off voting method described in section 726 is elected to that office.

Sec. 9. 21-A MRSA §726 is enacted to read:

§726.__Instant run-off voting method