GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1995

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 412

Short Title:  Election Enforcement/AB.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Representatives Lemmond; and Sexton.

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Referred to:  Judiciary II.

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March 9, 1995

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO STRENGTHEN THE ENFORCEMENT OF ELECTION LAWS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  Article 22 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 163-278.1.  Copies of State Bureau of Investigation reports.
In all instances where the State Board of Elections requests the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate any violation of this Chapter, the State Bureau of Investigation shall furnish a copy of the report of its investigation to the State Board of Elections, and the copy of the report of the investigation in the possession of the State Board of Elections or its staff shall not be considered a public record within the meaning of Chapter 132 of the General Statutes and may be made available to the public only upon an order of a court of competent jurisdiction."
Sec. 2.  G.S. 163-106 reads as rewritten:
"§ 163-106.  Notices of candidacy; certification, oath, and pledge; with whom filed; date for filing; withdrawal.
(a)	Notice and Pledge. – No one shall be voted for in a primary election unless he shall have filed a notice of candidacy with the appropriate board of elections, State or county, as required by this section. To this end every candidate for selection as the nominee of a political party shall file with and place in the possession of the board of elections specified in subsection (c) of this section, a notice and pledge in the following form:'Date                               I hereby file notice as a candidate for nomination as ............ in the .......... party primary election to be held on ........, 19..... I affiliate with the .......... party, (and I certify that I am now registered on the registration records of the precinct in which I reside as an affiliate of the .......... party.)
		I pledge that if I am defeated in the primary, I will not run for any office as a write-in candidate in the next general election.Signed                              
               Name of candidateWitness:
(Title of witness)'Each candidate shall sign his notice of candidacy in the presence of the chairman or secretary of the board of elections, State or county, with which he files. In the alternative, a candidate may have his signature on the notice of candidacy acknowledged and certified to by an officer authorized to take acknowledgments and administer oaths, in which case the candidate may mail his notice of candidacy to the appropriate board of elections.
(a1)	Notice, Certification, Oath, and Pledge. – No one shall be voted for in a primary election unless that person shall have filed the notice of candidacy, signed the certification, and taken the oath at the appropriate board of elections as required by this section. The applicant shall file a notice on a form to be prescribed by the State Board of Elections. Before questioning any applicant for candidacy as to that applicant's qualifications, the examining official shall present to the applicant a certification, which shall be read by or to the applicant on request and then signed by the applicant: 'I hereby certify that the information I shall give with respect to my qualifications and identity is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
..............................
(Signature of applicant)'
After signing the certification, the applicant shall state as accurately as possible his name, age, place of residence, political party affiliation, if any, under the provisions of G.S. 163-82.4(c) and any other information that may be material to a determination of the applicant's identity, qualification to be a candidate for the office sought, and potential qualification to serve in that office. The applicant shall also present to the examining official written or documentary evidence of identity. The examining official, if in doubt as to the right of the person to be a candidate for the office, may require other evidence satisfactory to that official as to the applicant's qualifications. The examining official shall make the inspection of county registration records required by subsection (g) of this section or examine the certificate of registration required by subsection (f) of this section.
If the examining official finds the applicant duly qualified to be a candidate, that official shall administer the following oath to the applicant: 'I, ........, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that to the best of my knowledge I meet all the constitutional and statutory qualifications to be a candidate for the office of .............. and that I am now capable of meeting all the constitutional and statutory qualifications of the office of ............. at the time I will legally be required to meet them, so help me God.'
In addition to the notice, certification, and oath, the applicant shall sign the following pledge: 'I, ............., pledge that if I am defeated in the primary, I will not run for any office as a write-in candidate in the next general election.'
In signing his notice of candidacy, certification, and pledge, the applicant for candidacy shall use only the applicant's legal name and, in the applicant's discretion, any nickname by which the applicant is commonly known. An applicant may also, in lieu of legal first name and legal middle initial or middle name (if any) sign his nickname, provided that he appends to the notice of candidacy an affidavit that he has been commonly known by that nickname for at least five years prior to the date of making the affidavit. The applicant shall also include with the affidavit the way his name (as permitted by law) should be listed on the ballot if another candidate with the same last name files a notice of candidacy for that office.
For the purpose of this section, 'examining official' means the chair, board member, Executive Secretary-Director, or supervisor of the appropriate board of elections as determined by subsection (c)	of this section.
In prescribing the format of the notice form, the State Board of Elections shall include the certification, oath, and pledge required by this subsection on the same form. Prior to the date on which candidates may commence filing, the State Board of Elections shall print and furnish, at State expense, to each county board of elections a sufficient number of the notice of candidacy forms prescribed by this subsection for use by applicants required to file with county boards of elections.
A notice of candidacy, certification, or pledge signed by an agent of the applicant or any person other than the applicant shall be invalid.
Notwithstanding the requirement of this subsection that the applicant shall file the notice, sign the certification and pledge, and take the oath at the appropriate board of elections, the State Board of Elections may promulgate rules to permit the long-distance execution of those required actions through telecommunications systems.
(a2)	Denial of Application of Candidacy; Appeal of Denial. – If the examining official determines that the applicant for candidacy does not meet the qualifications to be a candidate for the office sought or is not capable of meeting the qualifications of office at the time the applicant must meet those qualifications, the examining official shall issue a written denial to the applicant. The applicant may appeal the denial according to the same procedure provided in G.S. 163-82.18 for appeal of denial of voter registration. While any such appeal is pending, the applicant for candidacy shall not be excluded from the ballot. No applicant's candidacy shall be denied on the grounds that the person did not timely file a notice of candidacy if that person applied by the deadline provided in subsection (c) of this section.
(b)	Eligibility to File. – No person shall be permitted to file as a candidate in a primary if, at the time he offers to file notice of candidacy, he is registered on the appropriate registration book or record as an affiliate of a political party other than that in whose primary he is attempting to file. No person who has changed his political party affiliation or who has changed from unaffiliated status to party affiliation as permitted in G.S. 163-82.17, shall be permitted to file as a candidate in the primary of the party to which he changed unless he has been affiliated with the political party in which he seeks to be a candidate for at least 90 days prior to the filing date for the office for which he desires to file his notice of candidacy.
A person registered as 'unaffiliated' shall be ineligible to file as a candidate in a party primary election.
(c)	Time for Filing Notice of Candidacy. – Candidates seeking party primary nominations for the following offices shall file their notice of candidacy with the State Board of Elections no earlier than 12:00 noon on the first Monday in January and no later than 12:00 noon on the first Monday in February preceding the primary:
Governor
Lieutenant Governor
All State executive officers
Justices of the Supreme Court, Judges of the Court of Appeals
Judges of the superior courts
Judges of the district courts
United States Senators
Members of the House of Representatives of the United States
District attorneys
Candidates seeking party primary nominations for the following offices shall file their notice of candidacy with the county board of elections no earlier than 12:00 noon on the first Monday in January and no later than 12:00 noon on the first Monday in February preceding the primary:
State Senators
Members of the State House of Representatives
All county offices.
(d)	Notice of Candidacy for Certain Offices to Indicate Vacancy. – In any primary in which there are two or more vacancies for Chief Justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court, two or more vacancies for judge of the Court of Appeals, or two vacancies for United States Senator from North Carolina or two or more vacancies for the office of district court judge to be filled by nominations, each candidate shall, at the time of filing notice of candidacy, file with the State Board of Elections a written statement designating the vacancy to which he seeks nomination. Votes cast for a candidate shall be effective only for his nomination to the vacancy for which he has given notice of candidacy as provided in this subsection.
A person seeking party nomination for a specialized district judgeship established under G.S. 7A-147 shall, at the time of filing notice of candidacy, file with the State Board of Elections a written statement designating the specialized judgeship to which he seeks nomination.
(e)	Withdrawal of Notice of Candidacy. – Any person who has filed notice of candidacy for an office shall have the right to withdraw it at any time prior to the date on which the right to file for that office expires under the terms of subsection (c) of this section. If a candidate does not withdraw before the filing deadline, except as provided in G.S. 163-112, his name shall be printed on the primary ballot, any votes for him shall be counted, and he shall not be refunded his filing fee.
(f)	Candidates required to file their notice of candidacy with the State Board of Elections under subsection (c) of this section shall file along with their notice a certificate signed by the chairman of the board of elections or the supervisor of elections of the county in which they are registered to vote, stating that the person is registered to vote in that county, stating the party with which the person is affiliated, and that the person has not changed his affiliation from another party or from unaffiliated within three months prior to the filing deadline under subsection (c) of this section. In issuing such certificate, the chairman or supervisor shall check the registration records of the county to verify such information. During the period commencing 36 hours immediately preceding the filing deadline the State Board of Elections shall accept, on a conditional basis, the notice of candidacy of a candidate who has failed to secure the verification ordered herein subject to receipt of verification no later than three days following the filing deadline. The State Board of Elections shall prescribe the form for such certificate, and distribute it to each county board of elections no later than the last Monday in December of each odd-numbered year.
(g)	When any candidate files a notice of candidacy with a county board of elections under subsection (c) of this section or under G.S. 163-291(2), the chairman or supervisor of elections shall, immediately upon receipt of the notice of candidacy, inspect the registration records of the county, and deny the notice of candidacy of any person who is not qualified to be a candidate for the office sought or capable of meeting the qualifications for the office sought at the time those qualifications must be met. 
(h)	No person may file a notice of candidacy for more than one office described in subsection (c) of this section for any one election. If a person has filed a notice of candidacy with a board of elections under this section for one office, then a notice of candidacy may not later be filed for any other office under this section when the election is on the same date unless the notice of candidacy for the first office is withdrawn under subsection (e) of this section; provided that this subsection shall not apply unless the deadline for filing notices of candidacy for both offices is the same. Notwithstanding this subsection, a person may file a notice of candidacy for a full term as United States Senator, and also file a notice of candidacy for the remainder of the unexpired term of that same seat in an election held under G.S. 163-12, and may file a notice of candidacy for a full term as a member of the United States House of Representatives, and also file a notice of candidacy for the remainder of the unexpired term in an election held under G.S. 163-13.
(i)	No person may file a notice of candidacy for superior court judge unless that person is at the time of filing the notice of candidacy a resident of the judicial district as it will exist at the time the person would take office if elected. No person may be nominated as a superior court judge under G.S. 163-114 unless that person is at the time of nomination a resident of the judicial district as it will exist at the time the person would take office if elected. This subsection implements Article IV Section 9(1) of the North Carolina Constitution which requires regular Superior Court Judges to reside in the district for which elected.
	(j)  Applicability to Replacement Nominees. – The certification and oath requirement of subsection (a1) of this section and the appeals procedures of subsection (a2) of this section shall apply to replacement candidates chosen according to G.S. 163-114, except that the State Board of Elections shall modify its forms where necessary to be suitable for nominees chosen under G.S. 163-114."
Sec. 3.  Article 9 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 163-100.  Certification and oath; appeals procedures.
Nominees of political parties not elected in primaries but nominated in accordance with G.S. 163-98 shall be subject to the certification and oath requirements of G.S. 163-106(a1)	and shall be entitled to the appeals procedures of G.S. 163-106(a2), except that the State Board of Elections shall modify its forms where necessary to be suitable for nominees of parties under G.S. 163-98."
Sec. 4.  Article 11 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 163-124.  Certification and oath; appeals procedures.
Candidates seeking to have their names printed on the general election ballot or counted as write-in candidates in accordance with this Article shall be subject to the certification and oath requirements of G.S. 163-106(a1)	and shall be entitled to the appeals procedures of G.S. 163-106(a2), except that the State Board of Elections shall modify its forms where necessary to be suitable for candidates under this Article."
Sec. 5.  G.S. 163-294.2 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"( a1)	Notwithstanding anything in subsection (a) of this section to the contrary, candidates for municipal office under this section shall be subject to the certification and oath requirements of G.S. 163-106(a1) and shall be entitled to the appeals procedures of G.S. 163-106(a2), except that the State Board of Elections shall modify its forms to make them suitable for candidates under this section."
Sec. 6.  Section 1 of this act is effective upon ratification.  Sections 2 through 5 of this act become effective January 1, 1996, and apply to all primaries and elections after that date.