II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1789

To provide for a rotating schedule for regional selection of delegates to

a national Presidential nominating convention, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 26, 1999

Mr. GORTON (for himself and Mr. LIEBERMAN) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration

A BILL

To provide for a rotating schedule for regional selection

of delegates to a national Presidential nominating convention, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Regional Presidential

5 Selection Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 In this Act:

8 (1) CAUCUS.—The term ‘‘caucus’’ means any

9 convention, meeting, or series of meetings held for
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1 the selection of delegates to a national Presidential

2 nominating convention of a political party.

3 (2) ELECTION YEAR.—The term ‘‘election year’’

4 means a year during which a Presidential election is

5 to be held.

6 (3) NATIONAL COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘na7 tional committee’’ means the organization which, by

8 virtue of the bylaws of a political party, is respon9 sible for the day-to-day operation of such political

10 party at the national level, as determined by the

11 Federal Election Commission.

12 (4) POLITICAL PARTY.—The term ‘‘political

13 party’’ means an association, committee, or organi14 zation which—

15 (A) nominates a candidate for election to

16 any Federal office whose name appears on the

17 election ballot as the candidate of such associa18 tion, committee, or organization; and

19 (B) won electoral votes in the preceding

20 Presidential election.

21 (5) PRIMARY.—The term ‘‘primary’’ means a

22 primary election held for the selection of delegates to

23 a national Presidential nominating convention of a

24 political party, but does not include a caucus, con25 vention, or other indirect means of selection.
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1 (6) STATE COMMITTEE.—The term ‘‘State com2 mittee’’ means the organization which, by virtue of

3 the bylaws of a political party, is responsible for the

4 day-to-day operation of such political party at the

5 State level, as determined by the Federal Election

6 Commission.

7 SEC. 3. SCHEDULE.

8 (a) SCHEDULE.—

9 (1) FIRST ELECTION CYCLE.—Subject to para10 graph (3), in 2004, each State shall hold a primary

11 in accordance with this Act, according to the fol12 lowing schedule:

13 (A) REGION I.—Each State in Region I

14 shall hold a primary on the first Tuesday in

15 March.

16 (B) REGION II.—Each State in Region II

17 shall hold a primary on the first Tuesday in

18 April.

19 (C) REGION III.—Each State in Region III

20 shall hold a primary on the first Tuesday in

21 May.

22 (D) REGION IV.—Each State in Region IV

23 shall hold a primary on the first Tuesday in

24 June.

25 (2) SUBSEQUENT ELECTION CYCLES.—
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1 (A) GENERAL RULE.—Subject to para2 graph (3), except as provided in subparagraph

3 (B), in each subsequent election year after

4 2004, each State in each region shall hold a

5 primary on the first Tuesday of the month fol6 lowing the month in which the State held a pri7 mary in the preceding election year.

8 (B) LIMITATION.—If the States in a re9 gion were required to hold primaries on the

10 first Tuesday in June of the preceding election

11 year, such States shall hold primaries on the

12 first Tuesday in March of the succeeding elec13 tion year.

14 (3) EXCEPTION.—If all but one of the seriously

15 considered candidates withdraw from a primary in a

16 State before the date on which the primary for such

17 State is scheduled, the State may cancel the primary

18 in the State.

19 (b) REGIONS.—For purposes of subsection (a):

20 (1) REGION I.—Region I shall be comprised of

21 the following:

22 (A) Connecticut.

23 (B) Delaware.

24 (C) District of Columbia.

25 (D) Maine.
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1 (E) Maryland.

2 (F) Massachusetts.

3 (G) New Hampshire.

4 (H) New Jersey.

5 (I) New York.

6 (J) Pennsylvania.

7 (K) Rhode Island.

8 (L) Vermont.

9 (M) West Virginia.

10 (2) REGION II.—Region II shall be comprised of

11 the following:

12 (A) Alabama.

13 (B) Arkansas.

14 (C) Florida.

15 (D) Georgia.

16 (E) Kentucky.

17 (F) Louisiana.

18 (G) Mississippi.

19 (H) North Carolina.

20 (I) Oklahoma.

21 (J) South Carolina.

22 (K) Tennessee.

23 (L) Texas.

24 (M) Virginia.
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1 (3) REGION III.—Region III shall be comprised

2 of the following:

3 (A) Illinois.

4 (B) Indiana.

5 (C) Iowa.

6 (D) Kansas.

7 (E) Michigan.

8 (F) Minnesota.

9 (G) Missouri.

10 (H) Nebraska.

11 (I) North Dakota.

12 (J) Ohio.

13 (K) South Dakota.

14 (L) Wisconsin.

15 (4) REGION IV.—Region IV shall be comprised

16 of the following:

17 (A) Alaska.

18 (B) Arizona.

19 (C) California.

20 (D) Colorado.

21 (E) Hawaii.

22 (F) Idaho.

23 (G) Montana.

24 (H) Nevada.

25 (I) New Mexico.
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1 (J) Oregon.

2 (K) Utah.

3 (L) Washington.

4 (M) Wyoming.

5 (5) TERRITORIES.—The national committees

6 shall jointly determine the region of each territory of

7 the United States.

8 SEC. 4. QUALIFICATION FOR BALLOT.

9 (a) CERTIFICATION BY FEDERAL ELECTION COMMIS10 SION.—The Federal Election Commission shall certify to

11 the States in the relevant region the names of all seriously

12 considered candidates of each political party—

13 (1) for the first primary in the election year,

14 not later than 6 weeks before such primary; and

15 (2) in the subsequent primaries in the election

16 year, not later than one week after the preceding

17 primary in such election year.

18 (b) STATE PRIMARY BALLOTS.—Each State shall in19 clude on the State’s primary ballot—

20 (1) the names certified by the Federal Election

21 Commission; and

22 (2) any other names determined by the appro23 priate State committee.
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1 SEC. 5. VOTING AT NATIONAL PARTY CONVENTIONS BY

2 STATE DELEGATES.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State committee shall estab4 lish a procedure for the apportionment of delegates to the

5 national Presidential nominating convention of each polit6 ical party based on one of the following models:

7 (1) WINNER-TAKE-ALL.—A binding, winner8 take-all system in which the results of the primary

9 bind each member of the State delegation or Con10 gressional district delegation (or combination there11 of) to the national convention to cast a vote for the

12 primary winner in the State.

13 (2) PROPORTIONATE PREFERENCE.—A binding

14 proportionate representation system in which the re15 sults of the State primary are used to allocate mem16 bers of the State delegation or Congressional district

17 delegation (or combination thereof) to the national

18 convention to Presidential candidates based on the

19 proportion of the vote for some or all of the can20 didates received in the primary in the State.

21 (b) SELECTION OF DELEGATES.—

22 (1) SUBMISSION OF NAMES.—Not later than

23 the date on which a candidate is certified on the bal24 lot for a State, such candidate shall submit to the

25 State committee, in priority order, a list of names of
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1 individuals proposed by the candidate to serve as

2 delegates for such candidate.

3 (2) SELECTION.—Delegates apportioned to rep4 resent a candidate pursuant to the procedure estab5 lished under subsection (a) shall be selected accord6 ing to the list submitted by the candidate pursuant

7 to paragraph (1).

8 (c) VOTING AT THE NATIONAL CONVENTIONS.—

9 Each delegate to a national convention who is required

10 to vote for the winner of the State primary under the sys11 tem established under subsection (a) shall so vote for at

12 least 2 ballots at the national convention, unless released

13 by the winner of the State primary to which such dele14 gate’s vote is pledged.

15 SEC. 6. OPTIONAL STATE CAUCUS TO SELECT DELEGATES.

16 (a) ELECTION.—Instead of, or in addition to, holding

17 the primary required under section 3, a State may elect

18 to select delegates to a national Presidential nominating

19 convention of a political party in accordance with this sec20 tion, through a caucus held by any political party which

21 has the authority to nominate a candidate.

22 (b) SCHEDULE.—A State that makes an election

23 under subsection (a) shall ensure that the caucus does not

24 commence earlier than the date such State otherwise

25 would be required to hold a primary under section 3.
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1 (c) QUALIFICATION FOR BALLOT.—A State com2 mittee of a political party that holds a caucus shall certify

3 and include candidates in the same manner provided

4 under section 4.

5 (d) VOTING AT NATIONAL PARTY CONVENTIONS BY

6 STATE DELEGATES.—Each State committee shall estab7 lish a procedure for the apportionment of delegates to the

8 national Presidential nominating convention of each polit9 ical party and the method of selecting such delegates.

10 SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.

11 This Act shall apply with respect to any primary or

12 caucus held in connection with a general election held in

13 the year 2004 and in each election year thereafter.

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