S-0115.2                   _______________________________________________

                                                     SENATE BILL 5163

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State of Washington                              53rd Legislature                             1993 Regular Session

By Senator McCaslin

Read first time 01/15/93.  Referred to Committee on Government Operations.

Placing local positions or offices first on ballots.

          AN ACT Relating to the order of offices on ballots; and amending RCW 29.30.020.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  RCW 29.30.020 and 1990 c 59 s 11 are each amended to read as follows:

          The positions or offices on a primary ballot shall be arranged in substantially the following order:  For all jurisdictions on a primary ballot not specifically designated in this section, the offices in each jurisdiction shall be grouped together and be in the order of the position numbers assigned to those offices, if any; county officers; state senator; state representative; United States senator; United States representative; governor; lieutenant governor; secretary of state; state treasurer; state auditor; attorney general; commissioner of public lands; superintendent of public instruction; insurance commissioner; ((state senator; state representative; county officers;)) justices of the supreme court; judges of the court of appeals; judges of the superior court; and judges of the district court.  ((For all other jurisdictions on the primary ballot, the offices in each jurisdiction shall be grouped together and be in the order of the position numbers assigned to those offices, if any.))

          The order of the positions or offices on an election ballot shall be substantially the same as on a primary ballot except that the offices of president and vice-president of the United States shall ((precede)) be preceded by all other offices on a presidential election ballot.  State ballot issues shall be placed before all offices on an election ballot.  The positions on a ballot to be assigned to ballot measures regarding local units of government shall be established by the secretary of state by rule.

          The political party or independent candidacy of each candidate for partisan office shall be indicated next to the name of the candidate on the primary and election ballot.

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