THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY WILLIAMS, FERLO, FONTANA, WASHINGTON AND FARNESE, JUNE 3, 2011

REFERRED TO STATE GOVERNMENT, JUNE 3, 2011  

AN ACT

Amending the act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), entitled

"An act concerning elections, including general, municipal,

special and primary elections, the nomination of candidates,

primary and election expenses and election contests; creating

and defining membership of county boards of elections;

imposing duties upon the Secretary of the Commonwealth,

courts, county boards of elections, county commissioners;

imposing penalties for violation of the act, and codifying,

revising and consolidating the laws relating thereto; and

repealing certain acts and parts of acts relating to

elections," further providing for form of ballots, printing

ballots, stubs and numbers, for form of ballot labels on

voting machines and for forms.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Section 1004 of the act of June 3, 1937

(P.L.1333, No.320), known as the Pennsylvania Election Code,

amended February 19, 1986 (P.L.29, No.11), is amended to read:

Section 1004.  Form of Ballots; Printing Ballots; Stubs;

Numbers.--[From] (a)  Except as provided in subsection (b), from 

the lists furnished by the Secretary of the Commonwealth under

the provisions of sections 915 and 984, and from petitions and

papers filed in their office, the county election board shall

print the official primary and election ballots in accordance

with the provisions of this act: Provided, however, That in no

event, shall the name of any person consenting to be a candidate

for nomination for any one office, except the office of judge of

a court of common pleas, the Philadelphia Municipal Court or the

Traffic Court of Philadelphia, or the office of school director

in districts where that office is elective or the office of

justice of the peace be printed as a candidate for such office

upon the official primary ballot of more than one party. All

ballots for use in the same election district at any primary or

election shall be alike. They shall be at least six inches long

and four inches wide, and shall have a margin extending beyond

any printing thereon. They shall be printed with the same kind

of type (which shall not be smaller than the size known as

"brevier" or "eight point body") upon white paper of uniform

quality, without any impression or mark to distinguish one from

another, and with sufficient thickness to prevent the printed

matter from showing through. Each ballot shall be attached to a

stub, and all the ballots for the same election district shall

be bound together in books of fifty, in such manner that each

ballot may be detached from its stub and removed separately. The

ballots for each party to be used at a primary shall be bound

separately. The stubs of the ballots shall be consecutively

numbered, and in the case of primary ballots, the number shall

be preceded by an initial or abbreviation designating the party

name. The number and initial or abbreviation which appears upon

the stub shall also be printed in the upper right hand corner of

the back of the ballot, separated from the remainder of the

ballot by a diagonal perforated line so prepared that the upper

right hand corner of the back of the ballot containing the

number may be detached from the ballot before it is deposited in

the ballot box and beside that corner shall also be printed,

"Remove numbered stub immediately before depositing your ballot

in ballot box."

(b)  In all elections for offices in a city of the first

class where there are more candidates than persons to be

nominated or elected for a particular office and the same office

appears on ballots in more than one ward, the order of the names

of the candidates shall appear on ballots as follows:

(1)  In printing ballots for each ward, relative positions of

names for each nomination or office shall be changed as many

times as there are candidates for that nomination or office, and

to the extent reasonably possible, a candidate's name shall not

appear at the top of the list more times than the name of any

other candidate.

(2)  Names of candidates shall be arranged alphabetically by

surname in the first ward. In the second ward, names shall

appear in the same order as in the first ward, except that the

name at the top of the ballot in the first ward shall appear at

the bottom of the ballot in the second ward. The rotation shall

continue in the same manner for remaining wards.

(3)  For purposes of this section, each absentee ballot shall

be treated a separate ward.

Section 2.  Sections 1110 and 1109-A of the act are amended

by adding subsections to read:

Section 1110.  Form of Ballot Labels on Voting Machines.--

* * *

(n)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the

names of candidates on a ballot shall be arranged in accordance

with section 1004(b).

Section 1109-A.  Forms.--* * *

(h)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, the

names of candidates on a ballot shall be arranged in accordance

with section 1004(b).

Section 3.  This act shall take effect immediately.