The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Session Laws
CHAPTER 483 AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE INITIATIVE LAW FOR POLITICAL PARTIES AND CANDIDATES.
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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. The definition of "Political designation" in section 1 of chapter 50 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1990 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following two sentences:- Certificates showing that each of the signers of said request is a registered voter at the stated address, signed by the city or town clerk shall accompany the petition. Any such request filed before December first in the year of a biennial state election shall not be effective until said December first.
SECTION 2. The definition of "Political party" in said section 1 of said chapter 50, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- "Political party" shall apply to a party which at the preceding biennial state election polled for any office to be filled by all the voters of the commonwealth at least three percent of the entire vote cast in the commonwealth for such office, or which shall have enrolled, according to the first count submitted under section thirty-eight A of chapter fifty-three, a number of voters with its political designation equal to or greater than one percent of the entire number of voters registered in the commonwealth according to said count.
SECTION 3. Chapter 51 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 36, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
Section 36. The registrars shall prepare in sufficient quantity blank forms
for affidavits of registration which shall be in substantially the following
form:
`t(
`tuc
AFFIDAVIT OF REGISTRATION
(please print)
`ts
`t+1
name (last name first) `t) `t+1
`t(
residence (address) `t) `t+1
`t(
city or town `t) `t+1
`t(
residence January 1, (if different from above) `t) `t+1
`t( LAST PREVIOUS RESIDENCE IN ANOTHER CITY OR TOWN, IF ANY: `t+1
(Street Address) `t+1
(City or Town) (State) ............... (Zip) .......... `t) `t+1
`t( NAME YOU USED AT THIS RESIDENCE
(IF DIFFERENT FROM ABOVE): `t+1
`tuc date of birth place of birth u.s. citizenship `t+1
BIRTH ............... NATURALIZED .......... `t) `t(
occupation `t+1
`t) `t(
DO YOU WISH TO ENROLL IN A POLITICAL PARTY OR DESIGNATION `t+1
(List here the names of all present political parties, each followed by a box which the registrant may check) `t+1
POLITICAL DESIGNATION: ........................ `t) `t+1 `t( `tuc PLEASE READ CAREFULLY `t+1
I hereby swear (affirm) that I am the person named above, that the above information is true, that I am a citizen of the United States, that I am not a person under guardianship, that I am not temporarily or permanently disqualified by law from voting because of corrupt practices in respect to elections, and that I consider this residence to be my home. `ts
`t) `t(
witness `t+1
`t) `t(
title `t+1
`t) `t(
date `t+1
`t) `t+1
A copy of this document may be forwarded to the department of revenue and registry of motor vehicles.
In completing an affidavit of registration, a person shall enter thereon his name written in full, or instead thereof the surname and first Christian name or that name by which he is generally known, written in full, and the initial of every other name which he may have. A person who has chosen to retain his own surname at marriage shall enter that surname on the affidavit of registration.
The state secretary shall provide bilingual, English-Spanish copies of the affidavit of registration to city and town clerks, registrars of voters and election commissioners, who shall provide such bilingual forms to Spanish-speaking applicants.
Local officials shall make copies of said affidavit available to the department of revenue and the registry of motor vehicles of all executed affidavits.
SECTION 4. Section 44 of said chapter 51, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word "party", in line 8, the following words:- or political designation.
SECTION 5. Section 2 of chapter 53 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- Except in the case of municipal nominations where a city charter or a law applying to a particular town otherwise provides and in the case of nominations to regional district school committees elected district-wide, candidates of political parties for all elective offices, except presidential elector, shall be nominated and members of political committees, except as provided in sections one and four of chapter fifty-two, shall be elected in primaries or caucuses; provided, however, that the state secretary shall not conduct presidential and state primaries in any biennial state election year for a political party which has enrolled fewer than five percent of the total number of registered voters in the commonwealth as of the most recent count submitted to the state secretary under section thirty-eight A, and whose state committee files with the state secretary a writing so requesting, not later than August first preceding a year in which a presidential primary is to occur and otherwise not later than February first of the year of the biennial state election.
SECTION 6. The first paragraph of section 6 of said chapter 53, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first and second sentences and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- Nominations of candidates for any offices to be filled at a state election may be made by nomination papers, stating the facts required by section eight and signed in the aggregate by not less than the following number of voters: for governor and lieutenant governor, attorney general, United States senator, and presidential electors, ten thousand; for state secretary, state treasurer, and state auditor, five thousand; for representative in congress, two thousand; for state senator, three hundred; for state representative, one hundred and fifty; for councillor, district attorney, clerk of courts, register of probate, register of deeds, county commissioner, sheriff, and county treasurer, one thousand, except for clerk of courts, register of probate, register of deeds, county commissioner, sheriff, and county treasurer, in Barnstable, Berkshire, Franklin, and Hampshire counties, five hundred, and for any such offices in Dukes and Nantucket counties, twenty-five.
SECTION 7. The first paragraph of section 7 of said chapter 53, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 3 and 4, the words "living with street and number, if any, and his or her address on January first preceding, if different" and inserting in place thereof the following word:- registered.
SECTION 8. Section 32 of said chapter 53, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the first sentence the following sentence:- Notwithstanding the provisions of section forty-five of chapter fifty-four or any other general or special law to the contrary, the state secretary may provide only paper ballots for a state or presidential primary in a city or town where a political party has enrolled fewer than five percent of the total number of registered voters, as of the most recent count submitted to the state secretary under section thirty-eight A before the decision to prepare said ballots must be made.
SECTION 9. Said chapter 53 is hereby further amended by striking out section 38A, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
Section 38A. The board of registrars of voters of every city or town shall submit to the state secretary a count for each precinct of the number of voters enrolled in each political party and each political designation and the number of unenrolled voters. The count shall be correct as of the last day to register voters under section twenty-six of chapter fifty-one before every regular state and presidential primary and biennial state election, and in an even-numbered year in which no presidential primary is held, also as of February first. The secretary shall receive the count in writing not later than ten days after each such date, and shall issue a report thereof.