House Judiciary adopts amendment to Senate Bill 42 and concurs in bill revising judicial election rules

Ms. Weiss of Legislative Services summarized Amendment 1.6 to Senate Bill 42 for the committee, saying the amendment would insert several new sections addressing independent candidates in judicial primaries. The amendment would require that if an independent judicial candidate is the only independent candidate in a primary, that candidate receive at least 5% of the total votes cast for the successful candidate with the least votes in the most recent primary for that office. The amendment also includes filing-exemption provisions and signatures/deadline exemptions for certain independent judicial candidates.

Committee members asked procedural questions about how independent candidates would appear on ballots and whether local election administrators would implement separate ballots; Ms. Weiss said the amendment does not amend the existing election statutes that specify ballot mechanics and that implementation details would follow election-administration practice.

Representative Deming moved the amendment; the committee adopted Amendment 1.6 on a roll-call vote (12-8). Following amendment adoption, the committee voted to concur in Senate Bill 42 as amended; the concurrence vote succeeded by the same margin (12-8).

The record shows committee discussion addressed potential ambiguities in ballot presentation and how an independent candidate would be listed in different primary ballots, but the amendment does not itself change the underlying primary-ballot statutes.

The committee’s concurrence sends Senate Bill 42, as amended, forward under House procedures.