Sec. 9-276. Form for printing ballots. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 9-276. Form for printing ballots. All ballots shall be printed on the same leaf with a stub and shall be separated therefrom by a perforated line. The part above the perforated line, designated as the stub, shall extend the entire width of the ballot and shall be of sufficient depth to allow the instructions to electors to be printed thereon, which depth shall not be less than two inches from the perforated line to the top thereof. Upon the face of each stub shall be printed, in type to be prescribed by the Secretary of the State: "This ballot shall be marked with a pencil having black lead or a pen making a blue or black mark. Any other marks than a cross (×), plus (+) or check (/) used for voting will render this ballot void. If you tear, deface or wrongly mark this ballot, return it and get another. To vote for any candidate whose name appears, place a cross (×), plus (+) or check (/) in the voting space at the left of the name of each candidate for whom you desire to vote; and you may also write, in the space in the blank column designated for the office, the name of any registered write-in candidate for whom you desire to vote for such office", in type to be prescribed by the Secretary of the State. On the back of each ballot, below the stub, at the foot and in the center thereof, shall be printed, in eighteen-point Roman condensed capitals, the words "Official Ballot For", and after the word "For" shall follow the designation of the municipality, ward or voting district, as the case may be, for which the ballot is prepared and the date of the election. Ballots for municipalities divided into wards or voting districts shall be endorsed "Official Ballot For", and after the word "For" shall follow the designation of the municipality, and the ward or voting district therein, as the case may be, for which the ballot is prepared and the date of the election. On the front of the stub and immediately above the center of the endorsement on the back of the ballot when folded shall be printed the consecutive number of the ballot intended for such municipality, and the ward or voting district therein, as the case may be, beginning with the number one and increasing in regular numerical order. All ballots of the same kind, prepared for the same polling place, shall be of the same size and arrangement, so that when the stubs, numbered as aforesaid, are detached therefrom, it shall be impossible to distinguish any one of the ballots from the other ballots of the same kind. If two or more officers are to be elected to the same office for different terms, the term for which each is nominated shall be printed upon the ballot as a part of the title of the office. If, at any election, one candidate is to be elected for a full term and another to fill a vacancy, the ballots containing the names of the candidates shall, as a part of the title of the office, designate the term which such candidates are severally nominated to fill.

      (1949 Rev., S. 1039; 1953, S. 752d; 1963, P.A. 223, S. 1; P.A. 87-382, S. 30, 55.)

      History: 1963 act changed allowable ballot marks from a cross-mark (×) to a cross (×), plus (+) or check (/), and permitted the use of a blue or black pen as well as a black lead pencil; P.A. 87-382 repealed provisions re straight ticket and split ticket sections on stub, substituted "registered write-in candidate" for "person not printed on a ballot" and repealed requirement that facsimile of secretary of the state's signature be printed on back of ballot.