HB 27: "An Act relating to contracts for the preparation of election ballots."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 27 01 "An Act relating to contracts for the preparation of election ballots." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. AS 15.15.030 is amended to read: 04 Sec. 15.15.030. Preparation of official ballot. The director shall prepare all 05 official ballots to facilitate fairness, simplicity, and clarity in the voting procedure, to 06 reflect most accurately the intent of the voter, and to expedite the administration of 07 elections. The following directives shall be followed when applicable: 08 (1) The director shall determine the size of the ballot, the type of print, 09 necessary additional instruction notes to voters, and other similar matters of form not 10 provided by law. 11 (2) The director shall number ballots in series to assure simplicity and 12 secrecy and to prevent fraud. 13 (3) The director may contract for the preparation of the ballots on a 14 regional basis if necessary and shall [MAY] contract for the preparation of ballots by 15 [WITHOUT] obtaining proposals as provided in AS 15.15.031 [COMPETITIVE
01 BIDS]. 02 (4) The director may not include on the ballot as a part of a candidate's 03 name, any honorary or assumed title or prefix but may include in the candidate's name 04 any nickname or familiar form of a proper name of the candidate. 05 (5) The names of the candidates and their party designations shall be 06 placed in separate sections on the state general election ballot under the office 07 designation to which they were nominated. The party affiliation, if any, shall be 08 designated after the name of the candidate. The lieutenant governor and the governor 09 shall be included under the same section. Provision shall be made for voting for write- 10 in and no-party candidates within each section. Paper ballots for the state general 11 election shall be printed on white paper. 12 (6) The names of the candidates for each office shall be set out in the 13 same order on ballots printed for use in each house district. The director shall 14 randomly determine the order of the names of the candidates for state representative 15 for each house district. The director shall rotate the order of placement of the names of 16 candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, United States senator, United States 17 representative, and state senator on the ballot for each house district. 18 (7) The general election ballot shall be designed with the names of 19 candidates of each political party, and of any independent candidates qualified under 20 AS 15.30.026, for the office of President and Vice-President of the United States 21 placed in the same section on the ballot rather than the names of electors of President 22 and Vice-President. 23 (8) The general or special election ballot shall be designed with the 24 title and proposition for any initiative, referendum, or constitutional amendment 25 formulated as prescribed by law and placed on the ballot in the manner prescribed by 26 the director. When placed on the ballot, a state ballot proposition or ballot question 27 shall carry the number that was assigned to the petition for the proposition or question. 28 Provision shall be made for marking the proposition "Yes" or "No." 29 (9) The general or special election ballot shall be designed with the 30 question of whether a constitutional convention shall be called placed on the ballot in 31 the following manner: "Shall there be a constitutional convention?" Provision shall be
01 made for marking the question "Yes" or "No." 02 (10) A nonpartisan ballot shall be designed for each judicial district in 03 which a justice or judge is seeking retention in office. The ballot shall be divided into 04 four parts and each part must bear a heading indicating the court to which the 05 candidate is seeking approval. Within each part, the question of whether the justice or 06 judge shall be approved or rejected shall be set out in substantially the following 07 manner: (A) "Shall . . . . . . . be retained as justice of the supreme court for 10 years?"; 08 (B) "Shall . . . . . . . . . be retained as judge of the court of appeals for eight years?"; (C) 09 "Shall . . . . . . . be retained as judge of the superior court for six years?"; or (D) "Shall 10 . . . . . . . be retained as judge of the district court for four years?" Provision shall be 11 made for marking each question "Yes" or "No." 12 (11) When the legislature by law authorizes a state debt for capital 13 improvements, the director shall place the question of whether the specific 14 authorization shall be ratified by placing the ballot title and question on the next 15 general election ballot, or on the special election ballot if a special election is held for 16 the purpose of ratifying the state debt for capital improvements before the time of the 17 next general election. Unless specifically provided otherwise in the Act authorizing 18 the debt, the ballot title shall, by the use of a few words in a succinct manner, indicate 19 the general subject of the Act. The question shall, by the use of a few sentences in a 20 succinct manner, give a true and impartial summary of the Act authorizing the state 21 debt. The question of whether state debt shall be contracted shall be assigned a letter 22 of the alphabet on the ballot. Provision shall be made for marking the question 23 substantially as follows: 24 "Bonds. . . . . . . Yes" or "Bonds . . . . . . No," 25 followed by an appropriate oval. 26 (12) [REPEALED 27 (13)] The director may provide for the optical scanning of ballots 28 where the requisite equipment is available. 29 (13) [(14)] The director may provide for voting by use of electronically 30 generated ballots by a voter who requests to use a machine that produces electronically 31 generated ballots.
01 * Sec. 2. AS 15.15 is amended by adding a new section to read: 02 Sec. 15.15.031. Contracts for the preparation of election ballots. (a) Except 03 as provided in (b) of this section, the director shall award a contract for the preparation 04 of election ballots to the most advantageous offeror whose proposal conforms in all 05 material respects to the requirements and criteria set out in the request for proposals. 06 (b) The director shall award a contract based on solicited proposals to the most 07 advantageous, responsive, and responsible offeror after an Alaska offeror preference 08 of five percent and an Alaska product preference of seven percent. 09 (c) In this section, 10 (1) "Alaska offeror" means a person who 11 (A) holds a current Alaska business license; 12 (B) submits a proposal for ballot preparation under the name as 13 appearing on the person's current Alaska business license; 14 (C) has maintained a place of business in the state staffed by 15 the offeror or an employee of the offeror for a period of six months 16 immediately preceding the date of the proposal; 17 (D) is 18 (i) incorporated or qualified to do business under the 19 laws of the state; 20 (ii) a sole proprietorship and the proprietor is a resident 21 of the state; 22 (iii) a limited liability company organized under 23 AS 10.50 and all members are residents of the state; or 24 (iv) a partnership under former AS 32.05, AS 32.06, or 25 AS 32.11 and all partners are residents of the state; and 26 (E) if a joint venture, is composed entirely of ventures that 27 qualify under (A) - (D) of this subsection; 28 (2) "Alaska product" means a product 29 (A) that is produced or manufactured in Alaska, as defined in 30 AS 36.30.338(2); 31 (B) for which the responsibility for the final outcome of the
01 production or manufacturing process is controlled by an Alaska producer or 02 manufacturer; and 03 (C) for which no manufacturing step is performed outside 04 Alaska or, if a manufacturing step is subcontracted outside Alaska, the 05 manufacturing step is one the absence of which would not alter the 06 distinctiveness of the character of the product. 07 * Sec. 3. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 08 read: 09 APPLICABILITY. This Act applies to contracts for the preparation of ballots for 10 elections conducted on or after January 1, 2010.