open primary election

HB4059 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
open primary election

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HB 4059

Introduced by

Representative
Blattman

AN
ACT

amending
sections 16-301, 16-302, 16-461, 16-462, 16-467, 16-468 and 16-645,
Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to the conduct of elections.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 16-301, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-301.

Nomination of candidates for printing on official ballot of
general or special election

A. At a primary election, each political party
entitled and intending to
make nominations for

have its candidates advance to
the ensuing general or special
election, if it desires to have the names of its candidates printed on the
official ballot at that general or special election, shall
nominate

have
its candidates for all elective, senatorial,
congressional, state, judicial, county and precinct offices to be filled at
such election except as provided in section 16-344
appear
on the primary election ballot
.

B. Not later than sixty days before the date of the
general election, a candidate for governor shall submit to the secretary of
state the name of the person who will be the joint candidate for lieutenant
governor with that gubernatorial candidate and whose name will appear on the
general election ballot jointly with the candidate for governor.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 16-302, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-302.

Failure to nominate candidate in primary election

If no candidate
is nominated

receives the highest or second highest number of votes
in the
primary election for a particular office, then no candidate for that office for
that party may appear on the general or special election ballot except as
provided in section 16-344.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 16-461, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-461.

Sample primary election ballots; submission to party chairmen for
examination; preparation, printing and distribution of ballot

A. At least forty-five days before a primary
election, the officer in charge of that election shall:

1. Prepare a proof of a sample ballot.

2. Submit the sample ballot proof of each party to
the county chairman or in city or town primaries to the city or town chairman.

3. Mail a sample ballot proof to each candidate for
whom a nomination paper and petitions have been filed.

B. Within two calendar days after
receipt
of
receiving
the sample ballot, the county
chairman of each political party and any candidate in that election who has
submitted and confirmed an email address shall suggest to the election officer
any change the chairman or candidate considers should be made in the
chairman's or candidate's party

primary election
ballot,
and if on examination the election officer finds an error or omission on the
ballot, the officer shall correct it.� The election officer shall print and
distribute the sample ballots as required by law, shall maintain a copy of
each

the
sample ballot and shall post a
notice indicating that sample ballots are available on request.� The official
sample ballot shall be printed
on colored paper or white paper
with a different colored stripe for
as a single ballot
with all of the candidates for
each party that is represented on that
ballot. For voters who are not registered with a party that is
entitled to continued representation on the ballot pursuant to section 16-804,
the election officer may print and distribute the required sample ballots in an
alternative format, including a reduced size format.

C. Not later than forty days before a primary
election, the county chairman of a political party may request one sample
primary election ballot
of the chairman's party
for each
election precinct.

D. The board of supervisors shall have printed
mailer-type sample ballots for a primary election and shall mail at least
eleven days before the election one sample ballot
of a political
party
to each household containing a registered voter
of
that political party
unless that registered voter is on the active early
voting list established pursuant to section 16-544. Each
sample ballot shall contain the following statement:� "This is a sample
ballot and cannot be used as an official ballot under any circumstances". A
certified claim shall be presented to the secretary of state by the board of
supervisors for the actual cost of printing, labeling and postage of each
sample ballot actually mailed, and the secretary of state shall direct payment
of the authenticated claim from funds of the secretary of state's office.

E. For city and town elections, the governing body
of a city or town may have printed mailer-type sample ballots for a
primary election.� If the city or town has printed such sample ballots, the
city or town shall provide for the distribution of such ballots and shall bear
the expense of printing and distributing such sample ballots.

F. The return address on the mailer-type
sample ballots shall not contain the name of an appointed or elected public
officer nor may the name of an appointed or elected public officer be used to
indicate who produced the sample ballot.

G. The great seal of the state of Arizona shall be
imprinted along with the words "official voting materials" on the
mailing face of each sample ballot. In county, city or town
elections the seal of such jurisdiction shall be substituted for the state
seal.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 4. Section 16-462, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-462.

Form of paper ballot

The ballots for a primary election shall be printed with
a different color designation for each political party that is included
on the ballot. Unless otherwise provided by law, the ballot shall be printed,

the words
"official ballot
of the
__________ party,

for the
primary election (date),
___________ precinct, county (or city or town) of __________, state of
Arizona"
and shall not include a POLITICAL party name in
the heading
.� Below the heading shall be placed the title of each office
to be voted for, and an instruction to the voter as to how many are to be voted
for for the particular office, thus: "vote for not more than
__________" (insert the number to be elected), under which shall be placed
alphabetically and alternated, as provided by law, the names of all the
party's
candidates to be voted for in each precinct of the
county or precinct or ward of the city or town for whom nomination papers have
been filed for such office,
along with the political party
designation of each candidate,
leaving as many blank lines as there are
offices under that title to be filled, followed by a place for the voter to
make a mark to indicate the voter's choice either to the right or the left of
the candidate's name, and of the blank line.�
All candidates who
have properly filed partisan nomination papers as a candidate of a political
party shall be printed on the same ballot.�
Double or more columns may
be arranged on the ballot.� In other respects the ballot shall conform as
nearly as possible to the ballot prescribed for general elections.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 5. Section 16-467, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-467.

Method of voting on ballot

A. At primary elections
there shall be
provided
a
separate

single
ballot

for each party

CONTAINING all candidates
for all political parties that are
entitled to participate in the
primary
shall be provided
.

B. Each party ballot shall be
designated by the name of the party, and for a voter who is registered as a
member of a political party that is entitled to continued representation on the
ballot pursuant to section 16-804, the voter shall be given by
the judge of election one ballot only of the party with which the voter is
affiliated as it appears in the precinct register. For a voter who
is registered as independent, or no party preference or as a member of a
political party that is not entitled to continued representation on the ballot
pursuant to section 16-804, the voter shall designate the ballot of only
one of the political parties that is entitled to continued representation on
the ballot and the judge of election shall give the elector only that political
party's ballot.

C.

B.
If
a person is nominated on more than one ticket, the person shall promptly file
with the officer in charge of the preparation of election ballots a written
declaration indicating the party name under which the person's name is to be
printed on the official election ballot, and the person's name shall be printed
only under the party name.

D.

C.
For
any political party that is entitled to continued representation on the ballot,
section 16-822 applies to the election of precinct committeemen.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 6. Section 16-468, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-468.

Form of ballot; optical scanning system; sample ballots

For any ballots intended for use
in an optical scanning system, the following apply:

1. As nearly as is practicable, ballots shall have
material printed in the same order as provided for paper ballots, except that
material may be printed in vertical or horizontal rows or on separate
pages.

2. Ballots shall be printed in plain clear type in
black ink
, and for a general election,
on clear white
materials
,
and shall be of a size and arrangement to
fit the construction of the vote tabulating equipment or other voting
device.
For a primary election, ballots shall have a
different color indicator for each political party that is represented.
Ballots
may contain printed code marks that may be used for placing the ballots in the
correct position for tabulating devices. The code marks shall not be
printed or used in any manner that will disclose the identity of the voter who
votes that ballot.

3. The titles of offices may be arranged in vertical
columns or in a series of separate pages and shall be printed above or at the
side of the names of candidates in order to clearly indicate the candidates for
each office and the number to be elected.
The name of
the political party of each candidate shall be printed next to the name of the
candidate.
If there are more candidates for an office than
can be printed in one column or on one ballot page, the ballot shall be clearly
marked to indicate that the list of candidates is continued on the following
column or page and, as nearly as is practicable, so that the same number of
names is printed in each column or on each page.

4. As nearly as is practicable, in primary and
nonpartisan elections, the names of candidates for each office shall appear on
the ballot so that each candidate occupies each position on the ballot the same
number of times.� If there are fewer or the same number of candidates seeking
office than the number to be elected, rotation of names is not required and the
names shall be placed in alphabetical order.

5. As nearly as is practicable, in a primary
election for a judicial office, if there are two or more candidates of the same
political party, the candidate names shall be alternated on the ballot so that
the name of each candidate appears an equal number of times in each possible
location on the ballot.

6. Two sample ballots shall be provided for each
polling place and shall be posted at the polling place on election
day. Sample ballots may be printed on a single page or on a number
of pages that are assembled together. A sample ballot shall be a facsimile copy
of the official ballot.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 7. Section 16-645, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-645.

Canvass and return of precinct vote; certificate of advancement;
write-in candidates

A. When the board of supervisors, or the governing
body of a city or town, has completed its canvass of precinct returns, the
person

two persons
having the largest
and second largest
number of votes, or if more than one
candidate is necessary, those candidates to the required number who have
received the largest
and next largest
number of votes for
the
nomination for an
office
in the
political party of which the person was set forth on the ballot as a candidate
for the nomination
, shall
be declared the nominee of the
party

advance to the general election
for that
office and shall be given a certificate of
nomination

advancement
for that office by the board or governing body,
which shall entitle the person to have the person's name placed on the official
ballot at the ensuing election
as the nominee of the party

as a candidate for the office. When canvassing write-in votes
the apparent intent of the voter shall be taken into consideration to the
extent possible and the standard prescribed for federal write-in candidates in
section 16-543.02, subsection C applies.

B. The board of supervisors shall deliver the
official canvass by electronic means to the secretary of state within thirteen
calendar days after the primary election, and the secretary of state shall on
or before the third Thursday following the primary election canvass the return
and issue a letter declaring
nomination

the
candidates who advance to the general election
as provided in this
section
to the nominees who filed nominating petitions and papers
with the secretary of state pursuant to section 16-311, subsection D
. For
any partisan primary election, the governing body or officer in charge of
elections shall prepare and transmit to the secretary of state along with the
official canvass the total
by party of partisan ballots selected

number of votes cast
in that primary election by voters
who registered as
a member of a political party that is
qualified for representation on the ballot, as
no party preference, as
independents or as members of a political party that is not qualified for
representation on the ballot.

C. A certificate of election shall not be issued to
a write-in candidate for precinct committeeman or a write-in candidate
for a nonpartisan office unless the candidate receives a number of votes
equivalent to at least the same number of signatures required by section 16-322
for nominating petitions for the same office.

D. Except as provided in subsection C of this
section, a letter declaring
nomination

the
candidate as advancing to the GENERAL election
shall not be issued to a
write-in candidate of a party that has not qualified for continued
representation on the official ballot pursuant to section 16-804 unless
the candidate receives a plurality of the votes of the party for the office for
which the candidate is a candidate.

E. Except as provided by subsection C of this
section, a letter declaring
nomination

the
candidate as advancing to the GENERAL election
shall not be issued to a
write-in candidate of a party qualified for continued representation on
the official ballot unless the candidate receives a number of votes equivalent
to at least the same number of signatures required by section 16-322 for
nominating petitions for the same office.

F. A certificate of election shall not be issued to
presidential electors who are pledged to a write-in candidate for
president unless that candidate received the highest number of votes cast for
the office of president.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 8.
Conforming legislation

The legislative council staff shall
prepare proposed legislation conforming the Arizona Revised Statutes to the
provisions of this act for consideration in the fifty-eighth legislature, first
regular session.