[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 42 Introduced in House (IH)]

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 President 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 election 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 following article is proposed as an 
amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be 
valid for all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution if 
ratified 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 parties for 
President shall be nominated at a primary election by direct popular 
vote. Except with respect to qualifications relating to requirements of 
periods of residency, voters in each State shall have the 
qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of 
the State legislature, but, in the primary election, each voter shall 
be eligible to vote only in the primary of the party of his registered 
affiliation.
    ``Section 3. No person shall be a candidate for nomination 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 petition 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 
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 previous 
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 determined 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 political party 
shall be recognized as such if the electors for candidates for 
President and Vice President of such party received, in any or all of 
the several States, an aggregate number of votes, equal in number to at 
least 10 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.
    ``Section 5. The time of the primary election shall be the same 
throughout the United States, and, unless the Congress shall by law 
appoint a different day, such primary election shall be held on the 
second Saturday after the first Monday in July in the year preceding 
the expiration of the regular term of President and Vice President.
    ``Section 6. Within fifteen days after such primary election, the 
chief executive of each State shall make distinct lists of all persons 
of each political party for whom votes were cast, and the numbers of 
votes for each such person, which lists shall be signed, certified, and 
transmitted under the seal of such State to the Government of the 
United States directed to the President of the Senate, who, in the 
presence of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 
majority and minority leaders of both Houses of the Congress, shall 
forthwith open all certificates and count the votes and cause to have 
published in an appropriate publication the aggregate number of votes 
cast for each person by the voters of the party of his registered 
affiliation. The person who shall have received the greatest number of 
votes cast by the voters of the party of his registered affiliation 
shall be the official candidate of such party for President throughout 
the United States, if such number be a plurality amounting to at least 
40 per centum of the total number of such votes cast. If no person 
receives at least 40 per centum of the total number of votes cast for 
candidates for nomination for President by the voters of a political 
party, then the Congress shall provide by law, uniform throughout the 
United States, for a runoff election to be held on the forty-second day 
after the day on which the primary election was held between the two 
persons who received the greatest number of votes cast for candidates 
for the Presidential nomination by voters of such political party in 
the primary election: Provided, however, That no person ineligible to 
vote in the primary election of any political party shall be eligible 
to vote in a runoff election of such political party.
    ``Section 7. Each party, for which, in accordance with sections 2, 
3, 4, and 5, of this article, the name of a Presidential candidate 
shall have been placed on the ballot, shall, not less than seven nor 
more than thirty days following the selection of a Presidential 
candidate for such party, nominate a candidate for Vice President, who, 
when chosen, shall be the official candidate of such party for Vice 
President throughout the United States. No person constitutionally 
ineligible for the Office of President shall be eligible for nomination 
as a candidate for the Office of Vice President of the United States.
    ``Section 8. In the event of the death or resignation or 
disqualification of the official candidate of any political party for 
President, the person nominated by such political party for Vice 
President shall resign the vice-presidential nomination and shall be 
the official candidate of such party for President. In the event of the 
deaths or resignations or disqualifications of the official candidates 
of any political party for President and Vice President, a national 
committee of such party composed of the candidates of such party for 
the United States House of Representatives shall designate such 
candidates, who shall be deemed the official candidates of such party, 
but in choosing such candidates the vote shall be taken by States, the 
delegation from each State having the same number of votes that it has 
candidates for United States Representatives in the election involved. 
A quorum for such purposes shall consist of a delegate or delegates 
from two-thirds of the several States, and a delegate or delegates 
casting votes from a majority of all States shall be necessary to a 
choice.
    ``Section 9. Subject to the limitation contained herein, the places 
and manner of holding any such primary or runoff election shall be 
prescribed in each State by the legislature thereof; but the Congress 
may at any time by law make or alter such regulations. For purposes of 
this article the District of Columbia shall be considered as a State, 
and the primary elections shall be held in the District of Columbia in 
such manner as the Congress may by law prescribe.
    ``Section 10. The Congress may provide by appropriate legislation 
for cases in which two or more candidates receive an equal number of 
votes, for methods of properly identifying candidates in cases where 
more than one with the same or similar name seeks the same office, and 
for methods of determining any dispute or controversy that may arise in 
the counting and canvassing of the votes cast in elections held in 
accordance with sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 9 of this article.
    ``Section 11. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation.''.

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