PART III. BALLOT SELECTION
§12-31 Selection of party ballot; voting. No person eligible to vote in any primary or special primary election shall berequired to state a party preference or nonpartisanship as a condition ofvoting. Each voter shall be issued the primary or special primary ballot foreach party and the nonpartisan primary or special primary ballot. A votershall be entitled to vote only for candidates of one party or only fornonpartisan candidates. If the primary or special primary ballot is markedcontrary to this paragraph, the ballot shall not be counted.
In any primary or special primary election inthe year 1979 and thereafter, a voter shall be entitled to select and to votethe ballot of any one party or nonpartisan, regardless of which ballot thevoter voted in any preceding primary or special primary election. [L 1970, c26, pt of §2; am L 1973, c 217, §2(i); am L 1974, c 34, §2(c); am L 1979, c139, §9; gen ch 1985]
Cross References
Constitutional provision, see Const. art. II, §4.
Case Notes
Where political party did not develop evidence showing thatthe State's open primary system severely burdened its associational rights, theparty's facial challenge failed; among other things, the party provided noevidence showing a "clear and present danger" that adherents ofopposing parties determined the party's nominees. 833 F.3d 1119 (2016).
Where plaintiff claimed provisions requiring an open primarywere facially unconstitutional because allowing voters to associate anonymouslywith a political party violated a party's First Amendment right of freeassociation: (1) plaintiff's purely facial challenge to the open primaryfailed; and (2) the court could not assess whether plaintiff's associationalrights were burdened without considering evidence as to the extent, if any, ofthat burden. 982 F. Supp. 2d 1166 (2013).
Selection of a party's ballot does not automatically makevoter a party member. 56 H. 519, 542 P.2d 1272.