8.16 Partisan nominations.

(1) Except as provided in sub. (2), the person who receives the greatest number of votes for an office on a party ballot at any partisan primary, regardless of whether the person's name appears on the ballot, shall be the party's candidate for the office, and the person's name shall so appear on the official ballot at the next election.

(2) A person who receives only write-in votes shall not appear on the ballot as the candidate of a recognized political party for an office whenever no candidate's name appears on the ballot for that office unless the person receives at least 5 percent of the vote cast in the jurisdiction or district for the party's gubernatorial candidate at the last general election or the number of votes equivalent to the minimum number of signatures required on nomination papers for that office under s. 8.15 (6), whichever is greater, and unless:

(a) The person files a declaration of candidacy under s. 8.21 no later than 5 p.m. on the 3rd day after notification of nomination is mailed or personally delivered to the person by the filing officer or agency for the office sought;

(b) If the person is a candidate for state office, the person files a statement of economic interests under s. 19.43 (4), no later than 4:30 p.m. on the 3rd day after notification of nomination is mailed or personally delivered to the person by the commission; and

(c) If the person is a candidate for state or local office, the person files a registration statement under s. 11.0202 (1) (a).

(2m) Independent candidates may not be nominated by write-in votes but shall file nomination papers under s. 8.20.

(3) Where the boundaries of a district in which the candidate of a political party seeks office have been changed since the most recent gubernatorial election such that it is not possible to calculate the exact percentage of write-in votes, under sub. (2), which are needed by that candidate to become the nominee of the party, the number of votes cast for a political party's nominee for governor at the last general election in each ward or aldermanic district, or each municipality where there are no wards, which is wholly contained within the boundaries of the newly formed district shall be calculated. If a candidate of a political party in a newly formed district does not obtain 5 percent of the number of votes calculated or the number of votes equivalent to the minimum number of signatures required under s. 8.15 (6), whichever is greater, the candidate shall not appear on the ballot as the candidate of that party for the office sought.

(4) A recognized political party which participated in the most recent gubernatorial election but loses its ballot position and subsequently regains such position under s. 5.62 (2) does not cease to be a political party for purposes of qualification under subs. (2) and (3).

(6) The persons who receive the greatest number of votes respectively for the offices of governor and lieutenant governor on any party ballot at a primary shall be the party's joint candidates for the offices, and their names shall so appear on the official ballot at the next election.

(7) Nominees chosen at a national convention and under s. 8.18 (2) by each party entitled to a partisan primary ballot shall be the party's candidates for president, vice president and presidential electors. The state or national chairperson of each such party shall certify the names of the party's nominees for president and vice president to the commission no later than 5 p.m. on the first Tuesday in September preceding a presidential election. Each name shall be in one of the formats authorized in s. 7.08 (2) (a).

History: 1975 c. 41, 93, 199; 1977 c. 107, 383, 427, 447; 1983 a. 484; 1985 a. 304; 1987 a. 391; 1989 a. 31; 2011 a. 32, 75; 2015 a. 117; 2015 a. 118 s. 266 (10).

The vote percentage requirement set forth in sub. (2) applies to special partisan primary elections. 61 Atty. Gen. 172.

The 5 percent requirement of sub. (2) does not violate equal protection nor burden the right to associate and cast votes effectively. Blair v. Hebl, 498 F. Supp. 756 (1980).