A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO MOVE THE PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE PRIMARY TO march.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 163‑213.2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 163‑213.2.  Primary to be held; date; qualifications and registration of voters.
On the first Tuesday in March 2012, and every four years thereafter, the voters of this State shall be given an opportunity to express their preference for the person to be the presidential candidate of their political party.
Any person otherwise qualified who will become qualified by age to vote in the general election held in the same year of the presidential preference primary shall be entitled to register and vote in the presidential preference primary. Such persons may register not earlier than 60 days nor later than the last day for making application to register under G.S. 163‑82.6 prior to the said primary. In addition, persons who will become qualified by age to register and vote in the general election for which the primary is held, who do not register during the special period may register to vote after such period as if they were qualified on the basis of age, but until they are qualified by age to vote, they may vote only in primary elections."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 163‑213.4 reads as rewritten:
"§ 163‑213.4.  Nomination by State Board of Elections.
By the third Tuesday in December of the year preceding the North Carolina presidential preference primary, the chair of each political party shall submit to the State Board of Elections a list of its presidential candidates to be placed on the presidential preference primary ballot. The list must be comprised of candidates whose candidacy is generally advocated and recognized in the news media throughout the United States or in North Carolina, unless any such candidate executes and files with the chair of the political party an affidavit stating without qualification that the candidate is not and does not intend to become a candidate for nomination in the North Carolina Presidential Preference Primary Election. The State Board of Elections shall prepare and publish a list of the names of the presidential candidates submitted. The State Board of Elections shall convene in Raleigh on the first Tuesday in  January preceding the presidential preference primary election. At the meeting required by this section, the State Board of Elections shall nominate as presidential primary candidates all candidates affiliated with a political party, recognized pursuant to the provisions of Article 9 of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes, who have been submitted to the State Board of Elections. Immediately upon completion of these requirements, the Board shall release to the news media all such nominees selected. Provided, however, nothing shall prohibit the partial selection of nominees prior to the meeting required by this section, if all provisions herein have been complied with."SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.