Amends existing law to revise provisions regarding the form and contents of ballots to be prepared by the Secretary of State.

LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO Sixty-eighth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2026 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOUSE BILL NO. 736 BY STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AN ACT1 RELATING TO ELECTIONS; AMENDING SECTION 34-903, IDAHO CODE, TO REVISE PROVI-2 SIONS REGARDING THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO PRESCRIBE FORM AND CONTENTS OF3 ALL BALLOTS AND RELATED DOCUMENTS; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY AND PRO-4 VIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.5

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:6

SECTION 1. That Section 34-903, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby7 amended to read as follows:8 34-903. SECRETARY OF STATE TO PRESCRIBE FORM AND CONTENTS OF ALL BAL-9 LOTS AND RELATED DOCUMENTS. (1) The secretary of state shall, in a manner10 consistent with the election laws of this state, prescribe the form for all11 ballots, absentee ballots, diagrams, sample ballots, voting machine labels12 or booklets, certificates, notices, declarations of candidacy, affidavits13 of all types, lists, applications, poll books, tally sheets, registers,14 rosters, statements, and abstracts if required by the election laws of this15 state.16 (2) The secretary of state shall prescribe the arrangement of the mat-17 ter to be printed on each kind of ballot and label, including:18 (a) The placement and listing of all offices, candidates, and issues19 upon which voting is statewide, which shall be uniform throughout the20 state.; and21 (b) The listing of all other candidates required to file with him, and22 the order of listing all offices, candidates, and issues upon which vot-23 ing is not statewide.24 (3) The names of candidates for legislative or special district offices25 shall be printed only on the ballots furnished to voters of such district.26 (4)(a) The order of the names of candidates that appear on election bal-27 lots for federal, state, county, and city local offices shall be rotated28 in the manner determined by the secretary of state for any political en-29 tity whose number of registered voters at the last general election ex-30 ceeded twenty-five thousand (25,000).31 (b) The names of candidates that appear on election ballots for other32 offices shall be rotated in the manner determined by the secretary of33 state for any political entity whose number of registered voters at the34 last general election exceeds one hundred thousand (100,000).35 (c) (b) The order of names of candidates for office in all other elec-36 tions shall be determined by applying the first letter of each candi-37 date's last name to a random alphabet selected prior to each election by38 the secretary of state.39 (5) No candidate's name may appear on a ballot for more than one (1) par-40 tisan office or one (1) judicial office, except that a candidate for precinct41 committeeman may seek one (1) additional office upon the same ballot. The42

2 provisions of this subsection shall not apply to the election of electors of1 president and vice president of the United States.2

SECTION 2. An emergency existing therefor, which emergency is hereby3 declared to exist, this act shall be in full force and effect on and after4 July 1, 2026.5