An Act to Allow Political Candidates to Be Nominated by Multiple Parties for the Same Office
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1071
Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs
Sponsors: BRAKEY, BOYER, MORRIS
Amends: 21-A MRSA §1, 21-A MRSA §331, 21-A MRSA §340-A, 21-A MRSA §601

Legislative Document
No. 1071
S.P. 440
In Senate, March 9, 2023
An Act to Allow Political Candidates to Be Nominated by Multiple 
Parties for the Same Office
Reference to the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator BRAKEY of Androscoggin.
Cosponsored by Representatives: BOYER of Poland, MORRIS of Turner.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  21-A MRSA §1, sub-§24-A is enacted to read:
24-A.  Multiparty candidate.  "Multiparty candidate" means a candidate who has been 
nominated by more than one party for the same office.
Sec. 2.  21-A MRSA §331, as amended by PL 2015, c. 447, §8, is further amended 
by enacting at the end a new paragraph to read:
This section does not prohibit a candidate from seeking the nomination of the party in 
which the candidate is enrolled and the nomination of a different party for the same office 
as long as the different party has notified the Secretary of State, pursuant to section 340-A, 
whether the rules of the party allow for the nomination of a candidate who is enrolled in a 
different party.
Sec. 3.  21-A MRSA §340-A is enacted to read:
§340-A.  Notice to Secretary of State of multiparty candidate option
No later than February 1st of the election year, each party eligible to participate in a 
primary election shall notify the Secretary of State whether the rules of the party allow for 
the nomination of a candidate who is enrolled in and seeking the nomination of a different 
party for the same office.
Sec. 4.  21-A MRSA §601, sub-§2, ¶B, as amended by PL 2013, c. 131, §16, is 
further amended to read:
B.  The ballot must contain the legal name of each candidate, without any title, and 
municipality or township of residence of each candidate, arranged alphabetically with 
the last name first, under the proper office designation.  Municipality of residence is 
not required to be printed for candidates for President and Vice President of the United 
States.  The initial letters of the last names of the candidates must be printed directly 
beneath each other in a vertical line.  The names of candidates for any one office may 
not be split into more than one column regardless of number.  The name of each 
candidate may be printed on the ballot in only one space.  For the general election 
ballot, the party or political designation of each candidate must be printed with each 
candidate's name, or multiple parties if there is a multiparty candidate for any one 
office.  The party or political designation may be abbreviated.
SUMMARY
This bill provides that a political party, qualified to participate in a primary election, 
may nominate a candidate who has been nominated for the same office by a different 
political party. Political parties must notify the Secretary of State no later than February 1st 
of an election year of that party's decision to allow a person not enrolled in that party to be 
that party's nominee for an office.