Pennsylvania Statutes § 3010 Form of ballot labels on voting machines

Statute Text

(a) The papers, cards or strips, enclosed within the ballot frame or frames of any voting machine, and containing the names of a candidate or candidates, or political party, or the statement of a question to be voted upon, hereinafter referred to as ballot labels, shall be printed in black ink, upon clear white material, of such size as will fit the ballot frame, and in plain clear type so as to be easily readable by persons with normal vision.

(b) If the construction of the machine shall require it, the ballot label for each candidate, group of candidates, political party, or question, to be voted on, shall bear the designating letter or number of the counter on the voting machine which will register or record votes therefor. Each question to be voted on shall appear on the ballot labels, in brief form, of not more than seventy-five words, to be determined by the Secretary of the Commonwealth in the case of constitutional amendments or other questions to be voted on by the electors of the State at large, and by the county election board in other cases.

(c) The ballot label for each candidate or group of candidates nominated or seeking nomination by a political party, shall contain the name or designation of the political party.

(d) The titles of offices may be arranged horizontally or vertically, with the names of candidates for an office arranged transversely under or opposite the title of the office. Under the title of such offices where more than one candidate is to be voted for, shall be printed "Vote for not more than .........." (the blank space to indicate the number of candidates to be voted for the particular office.)

(e) The names of all candidates, nominated or seeking nomination by a political party, shall appear in adjacent rows or columns containing generally the names of candidates nominated or seeking nomination by such party, provided that the names of individual candidates for presidential elector shall not appear upon the ballot labels, but, in lieu thereof, the names of the candidates of said party for President and Vice-President shall be printed on a single ballot label, together with the name of said party.

(f) When the same person has been nominated for the same office by more than one political party, his name shall appear in the rows or columns containing generally, the names of candidates nominated by each such party, his position in such rows or columns to be determined by the number of votes he received at the primary in the party entitled to priority on the ballot as determined by the votes obtained in the State at the last gubernatorial election by the candidate for Governor.

(g) The form and arrangement of ballot labels shall be prepared by the county election board.

(h) The names of all candidates of a political party shall appear in the same row or column, and except in cases of names of presidential commitments of nominees for delegate or alternate delegate to political party national conventions no other names shall appear in the same row or column [, to the left or top of which shall be a straight party lever, by means of which an elector may, in one operation, vote for all the candidates of that political party for every office to be voted for] . Where the names of the delegate or alternate delegate and the presidential candidate he is supporting shall both appear, the print size of the name of the delegate or alternate delegate shall be equal to the size of the name of the particular presidential candidate to whom he is committed, or in the case where he is uncommitted, the word "uncommitted" shall appear in the same size print. The names of such candidates shall be arranged under or opposite the title of the office for which they are candidates, and shall appear in the order of the votes obtained by the candidate for Governor of the party nominated at the last gubernatorial election, beginning with the party obtaining the highest number of votes: Provided, however, that in the case of parties or bodies not represented on the ballot at the last gubernatorial election, the names of the candidates of such parties shall be arranged alphabetically, according to the party or body name. The names of all candidates of a political body shall appear in the same row or column, and, if the number of parties and bodies permits, each political body shall be entitled exclusively to a separate row or column [, with a straight party lever] . If, however, the number of political parties and political bodies renders it impossible or impracticable to so arrange the political bodies, in such case said bodies shall not be entitled to a separate row or column [and a straight party lever] , but shall be listed by political appellations on the first left hand or top row, with the designating letter and number of the ballot label where their candidates may be found, together with the political appellations of other political bodies, whose candidates may be interspersed on the same row or column. Subject to the aforesaid limitations, the form and arrangement of ballot labels, as to the placing thereon of political bodies, shall be within the discretion of the county board.

(i) In primary elections, the ballot labels, containing the names of candidates seeking nomination by a political party, shall be segregated on the face of the machine in adjacent rows or columns by parties, the priority of such political parties on the ballot labels to be determined in the same manner as provided for determining priority on paper ballots in section 1003(f) herein.

(j) In primary elections, if it shall be impossible or impracticable to place on the ballot labels of one machine the names of all candidates seeking nomination in all political parties, the county election board may arrange for each election district the names of the candidates on separate voting machines: Provided, however, That the names of all the candidates seeking nomination in any one political party shall appear on one machine.

(k) Except as hereinafter provided in primary elections where there are a sufficient number of ballot frames on one row or column to accommodate all the candidates of a political party, the names of all the candidates shall appear on that row or column in the order that was established under the provisions of sections 915 and 916 of this act. Where there are four or more candidates for a particular office, the names of the candidates may be divided between the rows or columns as equally as possible so long as the order as provided in sections 915 and 916 is maintained.

(l) At the written request of a State committee, filed with the party rules and on the deadline prescribed by section 808.1 of this act, a party may have a "no preference" column added to the list of candidates for the office of President of the United States at the primary election. The ballot position for "no preference" shall be drawn in the same manner as the other candidates for that office: Provided, however, That this position shall be drawn by the Secretary of the Commonwealth or his or her designee.

(m) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a county election board may, to avoid voter confusion, provide for the use of a color scheme to identify all the candidates for a specific office.

History

Amended by P.L. TBD 2019 No. 77 , § 3 , eff. 10/31/2019 .

1937, June 3, P.L. 1333, art. XI, § 1110. Amended 1947, April 24, P.L. 68, § 1; 1951, Sept. 29, P.L. 1571, § 1; 1963, Aug. 8, P.L. 614, § 1; 1971, Dec. 22, P.L. 620, No. 165, § 14; 1976, Dec. 2, P.L. 1221, No. 269, § 8, imd. effective; 1979 , July 21, P.L. 189, No. 63 , § 6, imd. effective; 1990, Dec. 17, P.L. 681, No. 169, § 3, effective in 60 days.

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