Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 86 of chapter 54 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1984 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- Any voter who during the hours that polling places are open on the day of a special state election or the biennial state election or of any special or regular state primary or of a presidential primary is absent from the city or town where he is a voter by reason of being a specially qualified voter as defined in section one hundred and three B of chapter fifty-four, or his employment in another community, attendance at any institution of higher education or for any other reason or who will be unable to by reason of physical disability to cast his vote in person at the polling place or who for reasons of religious belief will be unable to cast his vote in person on the day of an election and whose application for an official absent voting ballot has been filed with the city or town clerk as provided in section eighty-nine or eighty-nine A, and certified under section ninety-one, may vote in accordance with sections eighty-seven to one hundred and three, inclusive.

SECTION 2. Said chapter 54 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 89 the following section:-

Section 89A. Application for an official absent voting ballot may be made in writing by a parent of a registered voter absent from the city or town, as set forth in section eighty-six by reason of being a specially qualified voter as defined in section one hundred and three B of chapter fifty-four, or by reason of his attendance at any institution of higher learning to the clerk of the city or town where said voter is registered. The applicant shall state his name, address and relationship to the person on whose behalf application is made as well as the name, current mailing address and legal domicile within the commonwealth of the person to receive the ballot. The applicant shall swear in writing to the truth of all statements made therein. Applications shall be processed in accordance with the provisions of section eighty-nine.

SECTION 3. Section 91 of said chapter 54, as appearing in the 1984 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word "voter", in line 5, the words:- or the parent of a duly registered voter as set forth in sections eighty-six and eighty-nine A.

SECTION 4. Section 94 of said chapter 54, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word "section", in line 11, the words:- eighty-nine A or.