8.12 Presidential preference vote.

(1) Selection of names for ballot.

(a) No later than 5 p.m. on the 2nd Tuesday in December of the year before each year in which electors for president and vice president are to be elected, the state chairperson of each recognized political party listed on the official ballot at the last gubernatorial election whose candidate for governor received at least 10 percent of the total votes cast for that office may certify to the commission that the party will participate in the presidential preference primary. For each party filing such a certification, the voters of this state shall at the spring election be given an opportunity to express their preference for the person to be the presidential candidate of that party.

(b) On the first Tuesday in January of each year, or the next day if Tuesday is a holiday, in which electors for president and vice president are to be elected, there shall be convened in the capitol a committee consisting of, for each party filing a certification under this subsection, the state chairperson of that state party organization or the chairperson's designee, one national committeeman and one national committeewoman designated by the state chairperson; the speaker and the minority leader of the assembly or their designees, and the president and the minority leader of the senate or their designees. All designations shall be made in writing to the commission. This committee shall organize by selecting an additional member who shall be the chairperson and shall determine, and certify to the commission, no later than on the Friday following the date on which the committee convenes under this paragraph, the names of all candidates of the political parties represented on the committee for the office of president of the United States. The committee shall place the names of all candidates whose candidacy is generally advocated or recognized in the national news media throughout the United States on the ballot, and may, in addition, place the names of other candidates on the ballot. The committee shall have sole discretion to determine that a candidacy is generally advocated or recognized in the national news media throughout the United States.

(c) No later than 5 p.m. on the last Tuesday in January of each presidential election year, any person seeking the nomination by the national convention of a political party filing a certification under this subsection for the office of president of the United States, or any committee organized in this state on behalf of and with the consent of such person, may submit to the commission a petition to have the person's name appear on the presidential preference ballot. The petition may be circulated no sooner than the first Tuesday in January of such year, or the next day if Tuesday is a holiday, and shall be signed by a number of qualified electors equal in each congressional district to not less than 1,000 signatures nor more than 1,500 signatures. The form of the petition shall conform to the requirements of s. 8.40. All signers on each separate petition paper shall reside in the same congressional district.

(d) The commission shall forthwith contact each person whose name has been placed in nomination under par. (b) and notify him or her that his or her name will appear on the Wisconsin presidential preference ballot unless he or she files, no later than 5 p.m. on the last Tuesday in January of such year, with the commission, a disclaimer stating without qualification that he or she is not and does not intend to become a candidate for the office of president of the United States at the forthcoming presidential election. The disclaimer may be filed with the commission by certified mail, telegram, or in person.

(2) Ballots. The form of the official ballots shall be prescribed by the commission. The ballot shall provide to an elector the opportunity to vote for an uninstructed delegation to represent this state at the presidential nominating convention of his or her party, or to write in the name of a candidate for the presidential nomination of his or her party.

(3) Reporting of results. No later than May 15 following the presidential preference primary, the commission shall notify each state party organization chairperson under sub. (1) (b) of the results of the presidential preference primary within the state and within each congressional district.

History: 1973 c. 334 ss. 16, 57; 1975 c. 93, 185, 199, 422; 1977 c. 427; 1979 c. 34, 260, 311, 355; 1983 a. 484; 1985 a. 304 ss. 100 to 106, 156; 1987 a. 391; 1989 a. 192; 1993 a. 184; 1995 a. 16 s. 2; 1999 a. 182; 2003 a. 24; 2011 a. 45; 2015 a. 118 s. 266 (10).

The national democratic party has a protected right of political association and may not be compelled to seat delegates chosen in an open primary in violation of the party's rules. Democratic Party of United States v. Wisconsin, 450 U.S. 107, 101 S. Ct. 1010, 67 L. Ed. 2d 82 (1981).