(a) The electors in the several towns in the state, at the state election in 1964, and quadrennially thereafter, shall elect electors of President and Vice President of the United States, not exceeding in number the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state is then entitled in the Congress of the United States. Voting shall be conducted and the result declared, and the returns thereof made, as is provided in respect to state elections. The Secretary of the State shall, on or before the first Monday of October of the year in which such presidential electors are to be elected, transmit blank forms to the several town clerks for the return of the votes; and the lists and returns of the votes shall be made out, certified and directed according to such forms. When an election is to be held for the choice of presidential electors, if any political party has nominated candidates for President and Vice President of the United States, and presidential electors to vote for such presidential and vice presidential candidates have been nominated by a political convention of such party in this state, or in such other manner as entitles the names of such electors to be placed upon the official ballots to be used in such election, the Secretary of the State and any other official charged with the preparation of official ballots to be used in such election, in lieu of placing the names of such presidential electors on such official ballots, shall place on such official ballots a space with the words “Presidential electors for (here insert the last name of the candidate for President, the word ‘and’ and the last name of the candidate for Vice President)”; and a vote cast therefor shall be counted, and shall be in all respects effective, as a vote for each of the presidential electors representing such candidates for President and Vice President.

(b) In the case of a write-in candidate for President of the United States, such candidate may register his candidacy with the Secretary of the State by submitting his name and the names of a vice presidential candidate and candidates for the office of elector in a number not exceeding the whole number of electors to which the state is then entitled. Such registration shall be on a form prescribed by the Secretary of the State, which form shall include a statement of consent to being a candidate by each proposed candidate for elector and by the candidate for Vice President. Such registration shall not include a designation of political party. A candidate for President may register at any time after January first of the election year and not later than four o’clock p.m. on the fourteenth day preceding the election at which the offices of presidential elector and vice presidential elector are being contested. If a candidate has so registered, a vote may be cast by write-in ballot for such candidate by writing in the last name of the candidate for President and the last name of the candidate for Vice President or only the last name of the candidate for President; such write-in ballot shall be counted, and shall be in all respects effective, as a vote for each of the presidential electors representing such candidates for President and Vice President. No person nominated for the office of President, Vice President, or presidential elector by a major or minor party or by nominating petition shall register as a write-in candidate for such office under the provisions of this section and any such registration of a write-in candidacy filed by such a person shall be void.

(1949 Rev., S. 1043, 1103; 1953, S. 658d; 1961, P.A. 374, S. 1; P.A. 77-82, S. 1; P.A. 83-475, S. 17, 43.)

History: 1961 act made mandatory rather than directory the use of “Presidential electors for ... and ...” rather than listing the electors by name; P.A. 77-82 added new Subsec. (b) re registration of a write-in candidate for president; P.A. 83-475 changed “end of the business day” to four o’clock p.m. and added prohibition against person nominated for office of president, vice president or presidential elector registering for same office as a write-in candidate.

Subsec. (a):

Electors placed on ballot by Secretary of the State must be those pledged to vote for the candidates nominated by their national political party. 254 C. 789.