Witnesses urge ballot‑access, primary and ranked‑choice fixes in testimony on H.474

Witnesses told the Senate Government Operations Committee on Friday that House Bill 474, a package of changes labeled an election‑law bill, raises multiple questions about party primaries, ballot labels and the definition of political committees.

Robert Brister Johnson of Burlington, who described himself as a published author on ranked‑choice voting, urged the committee to treat three different election types distinctly — single‑winner races, multi‑winner contests and presidential primaries — and to change statutory rules so party labels on a general‑election ballot follow the party’s primary result. Johnson described problems he associates with instant‑runoff/ ranked‑choice tallies in single‑winner contests and proposed a set of changes he said would clarify the role of parties in ballots and primaries. “If you put Republican by your name on the general election ballot, you should run in and win…