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PRINTER'S NO. 1311
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
894
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY A. WILLIAMS, OCTOBER 24, 2019
REFERRED TO STATE GOVERNMENT, OCTOBER 24, 2019
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," in dates of elections and primaries and special
elections, further providing for municipal primary and
officers to be nominated and providing for authorization of
ranked choice voting in municipal elections conducted during
November.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 604 of the act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333,
No.320), known as the Pennsylvania Election Code, is amended to
read:
Section 604. Municipal Primary; Officers to be Nominated.--
There shall be a Municipal primary preceding each municipal
election which shall be held on the third Tuesday of May in all
odd-numbered years. Candidates for all offices to be filled at
the ensuing municipal election shall be nominated at the
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Municipal primary, unless otherwise provided in section 604.1.
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 604.1. Authorization of Ranked Choice Voting in
Municipal Elections Conducted During November.--(a) (1)
Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, the governing
body of a municipality may, by ordinance or resolution, as
appropriate, authorize the use of the ranked choice voting
method in municipal elections conducted during November, for any
of its municipal offices in accordance with the provisions of
this section, provided that the governing body eliminates the
use of municipal primaries for the same offices under section
604.
(2) The authorization described in paragraph (1) must occur
not later than one hundred eighty (180) days prior to the
election for which the ranked choice voting method will be
utilized.
(3) The ranked choice voting method may only be authorized
for municipal elections conducted during November in which three
or more candidates have been nominated or designated for a
municipal office.
(b) (1) For municipal offices subject to the ranked choice
voting method, the ballot shall be simple and easy to understand
and allow a voter to rank candidates for an office in order of
choice. A voter may include not more than one write-in candidate
among the voter's ranked choices for each office. If feasible,
ballots shall be designed so that a voter may mark the voter's
first choices in the same manner as that for offices not elected
by the ranked choice voting method.
(2) Instructions on the ballot shall conform substantially
to the following specifications, although subject to
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modification, based on ballot design and voting machine:
Vote for candidates by indicating your first-choice
candidates in order of preference. Indicate your first choice
by marking the number "1" beside a candidate's name, your
second choice by marking the number "2" beside a candidate's
name, your third choice by marking the number "3" beside a
candidate's name and so on, for as many choices as you wish.
You may choose to rank only one candidate of your first-
choice candidate. Do not mark the same number beside more
than one candidate. Do not skip numbers.
(3) A sample ballot for a municipal office subject to the
ranked choice voting method shall illustrate the voting
procedure for the ranked choice voting method. A sample ballot
shall be included with each absentee ballot.
(4) The county board of elections for the municipality where
the ranked choice voting method is authorized by the governing
body shall insure that the necessary voting system, vote
tabulation system or other similar or related equipment are
available to accommodate the ranked choice voting method.
(5) The ranked choice voting method shall not be implemented
in a municipal election conducted during November until the
Secretary of the Commonwealth determines that the ballots and
voting equipment are updated to accommodate the ranked choice
voting method.
(c) The following procedure shall apply in determining the
winner in a municipal election conducted during November for an
office subject to the ranked choice voting method:
(1) The first choice marked on each ballot shall be counted
initially by election officials. If one candidate receives a
majority of the votes cast, excluding blank and void ballots,
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that candidate shall be declared elected.
(2) If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice
votes cast at the end of the initial count, the candidate
receiving the fewest first-choice votes shall be eliminated.
Each vote cast for the eliminated candidate shall be transferred
to the candidate who was the voter's next choice on the ballot.
(3) Candidates with the fewest votes shall continue to be
eliminated, with the votes for those candidates transferred to
the candidate who was the voters' next choice on the ballot.
(4) If a ballot has no more available choices ranked on it,
that ballot shall be declared exhausted. Where a ballot skips
one or more numbers, that ballot shall be declared exhausted
when the skipping of numbers is reached. A ballot with the same
number for two or more candidates shall be declared exhausted
when these double numbers are reached.
(5) In the case of a tie between candidates for last place
and elimination occurring at any stage in the tabulation, the
tie shall be resolved so as to eliminate the candidate who
received the least number of votes at the previous stage of
tabulation. In the case of a tie to which a previous stage does
not apply, or the previous stage was also a tie, the tie shall
be resolved in accordance with the provisions of section 1418.
If the tie occurs when there are only two candidates remaining,
the tie shall be resolved in accordance with the provisions of
section 1418.
(d) Notwithstanding the requirements for filing nomination
petitions for primary elections under Article IX of this act,
each candidate for the offices to be filled at municipal
elections conducted during November for which the ranked choice
voting method is authorized shall file nomination petitions in
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accordance with the following:
(1) No candidate shall be required to be an enrolled member
of any party in order to qualify for the ballot or circulate
nomination petitions for an office to be filled at municipal
elections conducted during November for which the ranked choice
voting method is authorized.
(2) Each candidate shall circulate and file the nomination
petition with the Secretary of the Commonwealth in an amount of
time consistent with the number of days permitted for
circulation and filing of nomination petitions under Article IX
and on a form prescribed by the Department of State.
(3) Each candidate shall obtain the minimum number of
signatures for the office to be filled as required under section
912.1 and by electors who are registered to vote within the
election district referred to in the nomination petition,
regardless of whether the signing elector is an enrolled member
of any party.
(e) A governing body that authorizes the ranked choice
voting method in accordance with this section shall conduct a
voter education campaign on the ranked choice voting system to
familiarize voters with the ballot design, method of voting and
advantages of determining a majority winner in a single
election. The governing body shall use public service
announcements and seek other media cooperation to the maximum
extent practicable.
(f) All municipal elections conducted during November in
which the ranked choice voting method is authorized by this
section shall be subject to all the other provisions of this act
and all other applicable laws relating to elections, so far as
is applicable and not inconsistent with this section.
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(g) As used in this section, the following words and phrases
shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection:
"Continuing candidate" means a candidate who has not been
defeated or elected.
"Ranked choice voting method" means a method of casting and
tabulating votes that simulates the ballot counts that would
occur if all voters participated in a series of runoff
elections, whereby the voters rank candidates according to the
order of their choice and, if no candidate has received a
majority of votes cast, then the candidate with the fewest first
choice votes is eliminated and the remaining candidates advance
to another counting round. In every round, each ballot is
counted as one vote for the highest-ranked continuing candidate.
Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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