IA
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. J. RES. 42
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating
to the nomination of individuals for election to the offices of the Presi-
dent and Vice President of the United States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 5, 1993
Mr. SMITH of Iowa introduced the following joint resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United
States relating to the nomination of individuals for elec-
tion to the offices of the President and Vice President
of the United States.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled
(two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the fol-
lowing article is proposed as an amendment to the Con-
stitution of the United States, which shall be valid for all
intents and purposes as part of the Constitution if ratified
HJ 42 IH
by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States
within seven years after its submission to the States for
ratification:
‘‘ARTICLE —
‘‘SECTION 1. The executive power shall be vested in
a President of the United States of America. He shall hold
his office during the term of four years and, together with
the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected
as provided in this Constitution.
‘‘SECTION 2. The official candidates of political par-
ties for President shall be nominated at a primary election
by direct popular vote. Except with respect to qualifica-
tions relating to requirements of periods of residency, vot-
ers in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for
electors of the most numerous branch of the State legisla-
ture, but, in the primary election, each voter shall be eligi-
ble to vote only in the primary of the party of his reg-
istered affiliation.
‘‘SECTION 3. No person shall be a candidate for nom-
ination for President except in the primary of the party
of his registered affiliation, and his name shall be on that
party’s ballot in all the States if he shall have filed a peti-
tion at the seat of the Government of the United States
with the President of the Senate, which petition shall be
valid only if (1) it is determined by the President of the
HJ 42 IH
Senate to have been signed, on or after the first day in
January of the year in which the next primary election
for President is to be held, by a number of qualified voters,
in each of at least seventeen of the several States, equal
in number to at least 1 per centum of the vote cast for
electors for Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates
of his party in those several States in the most recent pre-
vious Presidential election; or, in the event the electors for
the candidates of a political party shall have appeared on
the ballot in fewer than seventeen of the several States
in the most recent previous Presidential election, it is de-
termined by the President of the Senate to have been
signed, on or after the first day in January of the year
in which the next primary election for President is to be
held, by a number of qualified voters, in any or all of the
several States, equal in number to at least 1 per centum
of the total number of votes cast throughout the United
States for all electors for candidates for President and
Vice President in the most recent previous Presidential
election, and (2) it is filed with the President of the Senate
not later than the first Tuesday after the first Monday
in April of the year in which the next primary election
for President is to be held.
‘‘SECTION 4. For the purposes of this article a politi-
cal party shall be recognized as such if the electors for