Committee allows nicknames on ballot

CONCORD- During a committee of conference, the House and Senate election law committees failed to reach a consensus on the rotation of names on election ballots.

However, the committees agreed that candidates will be allowed to place their nicknames on ballots.

The two committees were meeting to attempt to reach a compromise over House Bill 358, which would require candidate names and party lists to rotate every election.

 House confers took the side that rotating the names on ballots could be confusing to voters and make it harder to run for state representative, while the Senate side argued that the House bill does not follow a Court ruling that stipulated every candidate should have equal opportunity to have their names first on the ballot.

"The mandate is we have to reduce it (primacy affect). There's a core task here and that task is to follow what the Court has told us," state Sen. Jackie Cilley  (D-Barrington) said.

Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan told the committee that the law would be burdensome to his office.

"From our standpoint it makes our process a lot more complicated," Scanlan said. "This will cost money to have the resources we'll need if the law passes."

Scanlan said the Secretary of State office would need to hire an extra staffer to help form the ballots.

At the ending of the meeting, state Sen. Peter Burling questioned the Secretary of State's advice.

"Since when does the Secretary of State take precedent over the Constitution," Burling said.

After an hour-and-a-half of debate the committee decided to strike the entire bill, except for the section that allows nicknames to appear on election ballots.

"The designated name may include the candidate's given name or a shortened form of the candidate's given name or a one-word nickname customarily related to the candidate, and by which the candidate is commonly recognized. The designated name may also include an initial for the first or middle name, or both," the law states.