Amend the bill by inserting after section 10 the following:
‘Sec. 11. 21-A MRSA §354, sub-§5, as amended by PL 1991, c. 362, §§2 and 3, is further amended to read:
Amend the bill in section 19 in §374-A in subsection 4 in the 2nd to the last line (page 6, line 6 in L.D.) by striking out the following: " that" and inserting the following: ' who'
Amend the bill in section 19 in §374-A in subsection 4 in the last line (page 6, line 7 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: " any." the following: ' If the candidate who received the 3rd most votes is unable or unwilling to be listed as a candidate on the general election ballot, the Secretary of State shall list as a replacement candidate the name of the candidate who received the next most votes cast in the open primary election as determined by section 723-A who is willing and able to be listed as a candidate on the general election ballot, if any. If no remaining candidate for whom a vote was cast in the open primary is willing and able to be listed as a candidate on the general election ballot, notwithstanding section 601, subsection 2, paragraph D, the Secretary of State shall place a blank space on the ballot that may be used by a voter to write in the name of a person for whom the voter desires to vote, as provided in section 692, subsection 2.'
Amend the bill in section 27 in subsection 1-B in the last line (page 9, line 15 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: " primary" the following: ' except as provided in section 374-A, subsection 4'
Amend the bill by inserting after section 32 the following:
‘Sec. 33. 21-A MRSA §1122, sub-§8, ¶A, as amended by PL 2009, c. 363, §1, is further amended to read:
A. For a gubernatorial participating candidate, the qualifying period begins October 15th immediately preceding the election year and ends at 5:00 p.m. on April 1st 20th of the that election year or on the next business day following April 20th if the office of the commission is closed on April 20th.
Sec. 34. 21-A MRSA §1125, sub-§10, as amended by IB 2015, c. 1, §26, is repealed.
Sec. 35. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.
SECRETARY OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF
Bureau of Administrative Services and Corporations 0692
Initiative: Provides funding for additional ballot printing and postage costs in order to hold open primaries for certain state and federal offices.
| GENERAL FUND |
2019-20 |
2020-21 |
|
All Other
|
$250,000 |
$0 |
|
 |
|
| GENERAL FUND TOTAL |
$250,000 |
$0 |
’
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
summary
This amendment, which is the minority report of the committee, makes the following changes to the election laws to implement the open primary election procedure authorized in the bill.
1. It reduces the number of candidate petition signatures that an unenrolled candidate for the office of United States Senator, United States Representative, Governor, State Senator or State Representative must obtain to be placed on the open primary ballot to match the number of petition signatures that a party candidate for the same office must obtain to be placed on the open primary ballot.
2. It authorizes an unenrolled candidate who is certified for participation under the Maine Clean Election Act and who participates in a contested open primary election to receive the same amount of distributions from the Maine Clean Election Fund that a certified party candidate receives for participation in the same contested open primary election.
3. If one of the 2 candidates who received the most votes at the open primary, as determined by ranked-choice voting, withdraws from the race at least 70 days before the general election, it directs the Secretary of State to replace that candidate on the general election ballot with the candidate who received the next most votes in the open primary who is willing and able to appear on the general election ballot. If no candidate meets these criteria, the amendment directs the Secretary of State to place a blank space on the general election ballot that may be used by a voter to vote for a write-in candidate.
4. It makes a technical change to the deadlines for candidate certification under the Maine Clean Election Act.
5. It adds an appropriations and allocations section.
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED
(See attached)