HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2394        FILED ON: 1/15/2015

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 609

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Ellen Story

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to establish ranked voting for military and overseas absentee Presidential primary ballots.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Ellen Story

3rd Hampshire

1/15/2015


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2394        FILED ON: 1/15/2015

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 609

By Ms. Story of Amherst, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 609) of Ellen Story for legislation to establish ranked voting for military and overseas absentee Presidential primary ballots.  Election Laws.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth General Court
(2015-2016)

_______________

 

An Act to establish ranked voting for military and overseas absentee Presidential primary ballots.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Section 95 of chapter 54 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after the fifth paragraph the following new paragraph:-

Federal write-in absentee ballots from absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters as defined in said section 107 of said Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act for the primary election for the office of president of the United States shall be designed by the state secretary to permit the voter to rank the candidates in order of choice. The voter shall not be required to indicate his or her preference for more than one candidate on the ballot and may not be limited in the number of rankings. A vote on a ranked choice ballot shall be counted as one vote for the highest ranked candidate who has not withdrawn from the election. Instructions shall be sent with the ranked choice ballot to the voter explaining how to rank candidates in order of choice and how the ballot will be tabulated.