HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3223        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 564

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act establishing a task force on election day registration..

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

1.  Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, there shall be established an election day registration task force. (a) Said task force shall undertake a study of election day registration.  Said study shall include, but not be limited to, an analysis of : (1) the state and local costs of implementing said proposal, the costs of increasing access to the Central Registry of Voters, and the availability of federal funding through the Help America Vote Act; (2) the administrative requirements for adopting such a system, including their impact upon poll operations and upon the operation of municipal clerks’ offices on election day; (3) the possibility of fraud; (4) the effects upon finalizing a vote and possible recounts; and (5) the effects of other proposed election changes. (b) The task force shall complete its study and submit its final report in writing to the joint committee on election laws no later than September 30, 2009. (c) The task force shall consist of the house and senate chairs of the joint committee on election laws, the speaker of the house of representatives or his designee, the president of the senate or her designee, the house minority leader or his designee, the senate minority leader or his designee, the state secretary or his designee (who shall serve as chair of the task force), the chairs of the house and the senate ways & means committees, the state auditor or his designee,  the director of the office on disability or her designee, 2 representatives of the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association, at least 1 of whom shall be a town clerk of a town of fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, 2 representatives of the Massachusetts City Clerks Association, and 1 representative of each of the following groups: the Massachusetts Municipal Association, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Chapter of the NAACP, Common Cause, and MassVOTE. SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. , therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.