SENATE BILL No. 489

 

 

September 10, 2015, Introduced by Senator GREEN and referred to the Committee on Elections and Government Reform.

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled

 

"Michigan election law,"

 

by amending sections 42 and 45 (MCL 168.42 and 168.45), section 42

 

as amended by 1999 PA 216 and section 45 as amended by 1985 PA 160.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 42. (1) In the year in which presidential electors are to

 

be elected under section 43, each political party in this state

 

shall choose at its fall state convention a number of candidates

 

for electors of president and vice-president of the United States

 

equal to the number of senators and representatives in congress

 

that this state is entitled to elect. One presidential elector

 

shall be chosen from each congressional district, and 2

 

presidential electors shall be chosen at large and allocated as

 

provided in subsection (3) or (4). The chairperson and the

 

secretary of the state central committee of each political party


 

shall, within 1 business day after the conclusion of the state

 

convention, forward by registered or certified mail a certificate

 

containing the names of the candidates for presidential electors to

 

the secretary of state. The candidates for electors of president

 

and vice-president who shall be considered elected are those whose

 

names have been certified to the secretary of state by that

 

political party receiving the greatest number of votes for those

 

offices at the next November election.

 

     (2) A candidate for presidential elector is considered elected

 

from a congressional district if his or her name was certified to

 

the secretary of state by a political party as provided in

 

subsection (1) and that political party receives the greatest

 

number of votes for president in that congressional district in the

 

general November election.

 

     (3) A candidate for presidential elector is considered elected

 

at large if his or her name was certified to the secretary of state

 

by a political party as provided in subsection (1) and, except as

 

otherwise provided in subsection (4), that political party is

 

allocated a majority of the presidential electors from

 

congressional districts as provided in subsection (2).

 

     (4) If no political party is allocated a majority of the

 

presidential electors from congressional districts as provided in

 

subsection (2), the 2 political parties allocated the most

 

presidential electors under subsection (2) shall each be allocated

 

1 of the at-large presidential electors.

 

     Sec. 45. Marking a cross (X) or a check mark (ü) in the circle

 

under the party name of a political party , at the general November


 

election in a presidential year , shall not be considered and taken

 

as a direct vote for the candidates of that political party for

 

president and vice-president or either of them, but, as to the

 

presidential vote, as a vote for the entire list or set of

 

presidential electors chosen by that political party and certified

 

to the secretary of state pursuant to this chapter.for that

 

congressional district and for the state at large.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.