Wisconsin Code § 8.12

Presidential preference vote
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(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.

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