HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3781 FILED ON: 1/16/2009
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 651
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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the Year Two Thousand Nine
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An Act ensuring the freedom to vote in the Commonwealth..
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 1 of chapter 50 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting, in line 65, before the word “ballot” the word:- paper.
SECTION 2. Said section 1 of chapter 50 is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 66 and 67, the words “and where voting machines are used shall include ballot labels,” and inserting in place thereof the following words:- and shall be the sole record of the vote used for counting and tallying purposes.
SECTION 3. Section 1 of chapter 51 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the last sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- A person otherwise qualified to vote for national or state officers shall not, by reason of a change of residence within the commonwealth, be disqualified from voting for such national or state officers in the city or town from which he has removed his residence until the expiration of 6 months from such removal, provided further, that a person having changed his residence shall be eligible to register under section 34A..
SECTION 4. Section 3 of said chapter 51, as so appearing, is hereby amended, by inserting, after the word, “registration” in lines 7 and 16, the following words:- , or in accordance with the provisions of section 34A.
SECTION 5. Section 26 of said chapter 51, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 9 and 10, the words “eight o’clock in the evening” and inserting in place thereof, in each instance, the following figure:- 5:00 pm.
SECTION 6. Said chapter 51 is hereby further amended by striking out section 28, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
Section 28. Registrars shall hold a continuous session from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm on the last day for registration prescribed under section 26. For those towns having less than 1,500 voters, such session shall be sufficient if it includes the time from 9:00 until 11:00 am and from 2:00 until 5:00 pm.
SECTION 7. Said chapter 51 is hereby further amended by striking out section 34, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
Section 34. Except as otherwise provided in section 34A, after 5:00 pm of a day on which registration is to cease, the registrars shall not register any person to vote in the next election, except that they shall furnish, or cause to be furnished, to each person waiting in line at the hour of 5:00 pm for the purpose of being registered, a card or slip of identification bearing such person’s name and shall, before registration ceases, permit such person to register. The registrars may, however, enter or correct on the registers the names of persons who have registered as voters between December 31st preceding and the close of registration.
SECTION 8. Said chapter 51 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 34 the following section:-
Section 34A.
An individual who is eligible to vote may register on the day of an election by appearing in person at the polling place, during the hours it is open for voting, for the precinct in which the individual maintains residence, by completing a registration application in a form prescribed by the state secretary which complies with identity requirements of 42 U.S.C. section 15483, by presenting to the appropriate election official proof of residency and by making a written oath which shall be as follows: I certify that I: am a citizen of the United States; am at least 18 years old; am not under guardianship or otherwise prohibited from voting; am not temporarily or permanently disqualified by law because of corrupt practices in respect to elections; have read and understand this statement: I further understand that giving false information is a felony punishable by not more than 5 years imprisonment or a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.
For purposes of this section, the term “proof of residence” shall mean 1 of the following, so long as it includes the name of the applicant and the address from which he or she is registering:
a valid photo identification including, but not limited to, a Massachusetts’ driver’s license or other state-issued identification card; or
other documentation demonstrating the name and address where the applicant maintains residence and seeks to register including, but not limited to, a copy of a current utility bill, residential lease agreement, bank statement, government check, paycheck, other government document or a current student fee statement or other document from a post-secondary educational institution that verifies the student's current address.
Upon meeting the identity requirements of subsection (a), production of proof of residence, and the making of an oath sufficient to support registration, the ballot clerk or his designee shall permit the applicant to vote on the day of an election and the registrar or his or her designee shall place the applicant’s name and address on the annual register of voters as soon as reasonably practicable following the date of the election as prescribed by the state secretary. Any person who registers to vote on the day of an election in accordance with this section shall, absent disqualification, be registered to vote at all subsequent primaries and elections.
The state secretary shall make available, to the election officers, to the extent possible, at each polling place, access to the central registry of voters set forth in section 47C. For the purposes of this section, a printed copy of all voters registered to vote in that precinct as of the last day of the registration period, as required by sections 55 and 60, shall be sufficient.
This section shall not apply to an individual seeking to register to vote in any town for the purposes of voting at annual town meeting or special town meeting.
A registered voter shall not re-register on the day of an election for the exclusive purpose of altering his party affiliation.
The state secretary shall adopt regulations to implement the relevant provisions of this chapter.
Upon credible information or allegation of illegal voter registration, or credible information or allegation of illegal multiple voting, there shall be an investigation upon the merits of said information or allegation by the attorney general, or by the district attorney having jurisdiction over the municipality in which the alleged illegal registration or illegal multiple voting occurred. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as excluding enforcement of this section by any means otherwise provided by law.
Violations of this section shall be punishable under sections 8, 26 and 27, of chapter 56.
SECTION 9. Section 47A of chapter 51 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following:— A person who is otherwise qualified may pre-register on or after that person’s sixteen and a half birthday and may vote in any election occurring on or after that person’s eighteenth birthday.
SECTION 10. There shall be an advisory committee on the implementation of Election Day registration. Among other issues it may consider, the advisory committee shall study the resources necessary for, costs associated with, and feasibility of providing every polling location with real-time electronic access to the central registry of voters. The advisory committee shall be comprised of the secretary of state, or a designee, who shall chair the advisory committee, the attorney general, or a designee, the house and senate chairs of the joint committee on election laws, or their designees, 2 representatives of the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association, at least 1 of whom shall be a town clerk from a town of under 5,000 residents, and 2 representatives of the Massachusetts City Clerks Association. The advisory committee shall complete its study on the implementation of election day registration and submit an interim report and recommendations for improving administration of election day registration, in writing, to the joint committee on election laws and the senate and house committees on ways and means on or before June 30, 2011, and the advisory committee shall submit its final report in writing to the joint committee on election laws and the senate and house committees on ways and means on or before June 30, 2013.
SECTION 11. Chapter 54 Section 11 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking the words “one warden, one deputy warden, one clerk, one deputy clerk, four inspectors and four deputy inspectors” and replacing it with “one warden, one clerk, at least two 5 inspectors and a ballot box inspector.”
SECTION 12. Chapter 54 Section 12 of the General Laws is 2 hereby amended by striking the words “one warden, one deputy 3 warden, one clerk, one deputy clerk, two inspectors and two deputy 4 inspectors” and replacing it with “one warden, one clerk, at least two 5 inspectors and a ballot box inspector.”
SECTION 13. Section 33 of chapter 54 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting before the first paragraph the following paragraph:-
All voting systems shall allow voters to directly mark an official paper ballot, either by hand or, in the case of voters with disabilities, by way of a marking device. All voting systems shall allow the voter to verify his vote on the official ballot before the vote is cast. No voting system shall be approved if the recording and tallying of the votes take place electronically in one machine or in machines electronically connected to each other, even if such machines provide a paper receipt. The official ballot marked, verified, and cast by the voter shall be the official record of the vote. Only votes on official ballots may be counted.
SECTION 14. Said section 33 of chapter 54 is hereby amended by striking out, in line 6, the words “but no machine shall be approved which does not secure to the voter as much secrecy in voting as is afforded by the use of the official ballot”, and inserting in place thereof the following words:- but no machine shall be approved which does not allow the voter to directly mark and verify his own official paper ballot, and does not secure to the voter as much secrecy in voting as marking the official ballot by hand.
SECTION 15. Said section 33 of chapter 54 is hereby amended by deleting the second paragraph.
SECTION 16. Said section 33 of chapter 54 is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 35 to 37, the words “but no machine shall be approved which does not secure to the voter as much secrecy in voting as is afforded by the use of the official ballot” and inserting in place thereof the following words:- but no machine shall be approved which does not allow the voter to directly mark and verify his own official paper ballot, and does not secure to the voter as much secrecy in voting as marking the official ballot by hand.
SECTION 17. Section 33 of chapter 54 is hereby amended by deleting fifth paragraph.
SECTION 18. Chapter 54 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by deleting Section 33A.
SECTION 19. Section 37 of chapter 54 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting, in line 4, after the words “kinds of ballots,” the words:- provided that no ballot shall be an electronic ballot.
SECTION 20. Said section 37 of chapter 54 is hereby amended by amended by striking, in line 4, the words “ballot labels.”
SECTION 21. Said section 37 of chapter 54 is hereby amended by inserting, in line 7, after the word “thirty-two,” the words:- and thirty-three.
SECTION 22. Paragraph 2 of section 44 of chapter 54 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the first sentence and adding in place thereof the following sentence:- The official ballots shall be of ordinary white printing paper, of two of more pages, and shall, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, be so folded before distribution as to measure not less than four and one half nor more than five inches in width and not less than six nor more than thirteen and one half inches in length.
SECTION 23. Chapter 54 of the Massachusetts General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting the following new section:-
Section 62A Early Voting.
Pursuant to a request, in person, by a qualified voter, as defined by Section 1 of Chapter 51 of the General Laws, the local election officers and registrars of every city or town shall allow any qualified voter to cast a ballot for any biennial state election, special state election, primary, or special primary prior to an election day. Cities and towns may also provide for early voting in elections not held in conjunction with State elections.
Early voting shall begin on the 14th day preceding an election. The early voting period shall end on the day preceding an election. In case of a special election the early voting period shall begin on the 8th day preceding an election and shall end on the day preceding an election.
In order to allow for early voting, the registrars of each city or town shall identify and provide for at least one centrally-located and convenient polling location within each city or town for use during the early voting period. The designation of an early voting polling location must be made 30 days in advance of the election. The location and hours of the polling location are within the discretion of the registrars of each city or town. However, each early voting polling location must be open for eight hours on each weekday during the early voting period. The polling location must be open for an aggregate of eight hours each weekend during the early voting period. Further, the polling location shall be accessible to persons with disabilities and suitable voting machines shall be made available to all qualified voters.
The registrars for each city or town shall publish the location of the early voting polling place as well as the applicable dates and hours. Said publication shall occur during the week prior to the commencement of the early voting period and at least once a week during the early voting period. Notice of the dates and hours of early voting shall be sent to every newspaper listed in the Directory of New England Newspapers and Periodicals, located in such town or city. Notice of the dates and hours of early voting shall also be conspicuously posted in the office of the city clerk or on the principal official bulletin board of each city or town and any other public building deemed necessary.
The secretary of state must provide a sufficient number of early voting ballots and Early Voting Certificates to the registrars of each city or town for use during the early voting period. The early voting ballots shall be similar to the official ballots used on the Election Day with the exception that they shall be printed on paper differing in color from that used for the official or absentee ballot. The ballots and Early Voting Certificates must be delivered to the registrars of each city or town 30 days in advance of the early voting period.
Early voting ballots and Early Voter Certificates shall be provided to each qualified voter who participates in early voting.
Qualified voters shall sign, under the pains of perjury, an Early Voter Certificate, swearing that they are voting under their legal name and address and that they will not partake in any fraudulent activities while participating in the early voting period. The Early Voting Certificate will also require qualified voters to provide their ward and precinct information. In order to facilitate the organization of ballots by ward and precinct on election night, the Early Voting Certificate shall be attached to the sealed early voting ballot. The Early Voting Certificate shall have the following form:
EARLY VOTING VOTER CERTIFICATE
I, _____, am a qualified elector in this election and registered voter of _____ County, Massachusetts. I do solemnly swear or affirm that I am the person so listed on the voter registration rolls of _____ County and that I reside at the listed address. I understand that if I commit or attempt to commit fraud in connection with voting, vote a fraudulent ballot, or vote more than once in an election I could be convicted of a felony of the third degree and both fined up to $5,000 and imprisoned for up to 5 years. I understand that my failure to sign this certificate invalidates my ballot.
In compliance with Section 60 of Chapter 51 of the General Laws, before the commencement of the early voting period, the registrars for each city or town shall prepare a list for the early voting polling location, containing the names and residences of all persons qualified to vote therein, as the same appear upon the annual register, and shall reasonably transmit the same to the election officers at every polling location designated by the registrars.
The presiding election officer at the early voting polling location shall cause to be placed on the voting lists opposite the name of any qualified voter who participates in early voting the letters in capital EV designating an early voter.
At the end of each day during the early voting period, the presiding election officer must separate, compile, and record the early ballots cast at each polling location into the appropriate ward and precinct. The resulting list of early voters shall be updated daily and saved electronically. By 5:00 pm on the day before the Election Day, the list shall be forwarded to the appropriate ward and precinct location.
Sections 65, 66, 72, 73 and 75 of this chapter, governing the conduct of elections, shall apply to the conduct of polling locations during early elections.
The ballot boxes for early voting shall be sealed and locked each night and maintained securely by the election officers.
The registrars for each city or town shall designate a location for the counting of early and absentee ballots. The early and absentee ballots shall be opened at the close of all polling locations on Election Day. All totals shall be added to the totals at the relevant wards and precincts.
SECTION 24. Section 66 of chapter 54 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking, in lines 2 and 3, the words “where official ballots are used,” and inserting in place thereof the following words:- except as otherwise provided in this chapter.
SECTION 25. Section 71 of chapter 54 of the Massachusetts General Laws is hereby amended by inserting the following new paragraphs:-
During the course of an election the presiding officer at each polling place or his or her designee shall keep a log of issues that arise in the polling place and record other data, including:
Any alleged malfunction of the voting equipment and any actions taken to resolve the same;
Issues that may require further investigation;
Issues regarding the conduct of challengers or watchers and any incidents involving intimidation;
The number of provisional ballots distributed and the reason therefore;
The names and signatures of each poll worker and the serial number and model of each electronic voting machine.
SECTION 26. Chapter 54 Section 72 of the general laws is hereby amended by inserting after the word “shall” the following:-- as necessary or as requested by the city or town clerk
SECTION 27. Section 91A of chapter 54 is hereby amended by inserting after the words “the manner prescribed in section eighty-nine” in the first sentence and the words “in the manner prescribed in section ninety-one B” in the second sentence the following new words:--or if the specially qualified voter is on active duty outside the territorial limits of the United States, and requests it, by electronic means as further specified by the State Secretary.
SECTION 28. The Massachusetts General Laws are hereby amended by inserting after section 109 of chapter 54 the following new section:--
Section 109A. Audits of election results.
Following each primary, general or special election, a random hand-counted audit shall be conducted as provided in this section of the votes in each race for president, U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor, attorney general, state secretary; for one race chosen at random from the office of lieutenant governor, treasurer, and auditor; and also for each statewide initiative and referendum question. Races in which only one candidate's name appears on the ballot shall not be audited.
The state secretary shall establish an audit protocol such that:
for elections which appeared on the ballot state-wide, the audit shall be designed and implemented to provide at least a 99% probability of leading to a hand recount of 100% of the ballots whenever such a recount would change the electoral outcome of such contest, and
for each election held for United States Representative, the audit shall be designed and implemented to provide at least a 90% probability of leading to a hand recount of 100% of the ballots whenever such a recount would change the electoral outcome of such contest, and
a minimum of five precincts per Congressional district are selected for audits of elections for U.S. representative, and a minimum of ten precincts from all the precincts in the Commonwealth are selected for audit of races that appeared on the ballots state-wide.
The precincts to be audited shall be chosen in a random, publicly verifiable, non-computerized drawing supervised by the state secretary following the reporting of unofficial election results from each precinct, which shall be made publicly available by municipal clerks and by the state secretary. The time and place of the drawing shall be announced at least 48 hours in advance and be open to representatives of each political party and to the public. Except as provided in b (iii) of this section, precincts that are selected in the random drawing may be used to audit any races subject to audit under this section.
The board of registrars in each municipality where precincts have been selected shall conduct the audit of the precincts in such municipality. The board of registrars may employ tally clerks for the purpose of counting the ballots. Audits shall commence not later than 24 hours following the random drawing of precincts supervised by the state secretary and shall continue on each successive business day or other day at the discretion of the board of registrars in each municipality. The time and place of the audits in each municipality where precincts have been selected shall be publicly announced in advance and the audits shall be performed in full public view and conducted pursuant to the procedures for hand-counts of ballots in Section 105 of Chapter 54.
Upon receipt of the results of the manual audit count from the audited precincts, the state secretary shall calculate the total number of votes for each candidate and ballot question as recorded in the manual audit count and shall compare this total to the sum of the originally reported votes for each candidate and ballot question in the audited precincts. The state secretary shall order audits of such additional precincts as shall be necessary to carry out the requirements of this section.
Whenever the difference between the hand-counted audit and the originally reported tally is more than one percent for any particular machine model, the discrepancy between the hand-counted audit and the original vote tally shall be analyzed to ascertain the cause of the discrepancy. The state secretary shall oversee the analysis and shall publish and make available online the findings, along with the factual information on which they were based, within 180 days.
If there is a discrepancy between a manual count and originally reported tallies, where the original results were obtained using electronic equipment, the manual count of the official paper ballots shall be the official vote of record.
The results of audits and hand-counts, as well as the corresponding data for the originally reported tallies, shall be made publicly available on a precinct-by-precinct basis both in hardcopy and in electronic file format.
The audit and publication of the results thereof shall be completed prior to the time the State shall make a final determination concerning the appointment of its electors for President and Vice President of the United States as established in federal law.
The state secretary shall adopt regulations to implement the requirements of this section and shall hold public hearings both before and after issuing draft regulations. The state secretary shall consult one or more persons with expertise in statistics and election auditing to develop the procedures that will be used to select the precincts for audit, and to determine when, in light of any errors the audit uncovers, a sufficient number of precincts have been counted manually to fulfill the requirements of paragraphs a (i) and (ii) of this section. Final regulations concerning such procedures shall be published at least 60 days before the date of the election.
SECTION 29. Section 135 of chapter 54 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting in paragraph 9 after the first sentence the following new sentence:--
Ballots that have already been counted in a manual audit of the election in question provided under section 109A of the general laws do not have to be counted under this section.
SECTION 30. Chapter 56 is hereby amended by inserting after section 29 the following new section:--
Section 29A. Deceptive Election Practices.
No person, political committee, organization, association, or other entity shall falsely impersonate an election official, use the state seal without authority, or otherwise distribute false information about voting and elections for the purpose of delaying, preventing, dissuading or otherwise interfering with a voter exercising the right to vote whether such false information is communicated by written, electronic, spoken, by telephone or by any other means. Violation of this section shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars.
SECTION 31. Section 31 of chapter 56 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking the word “shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars,” and inserting therefore—shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars
SECTION 32. Chapter 56 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 39 the following new section:--
Section 39A. Closed Captioning of Campaign Advertisements.
A campaign advertisement that is disseminated as an advertisement by broadcast or cable television must include closed captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, unless the candidate posted on the candidate's web site a transcript of the spoken content of the advertisement. A campaign advertisement that is disseminated as an advertisement to the public on the candidate's web site must include closed captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, unless the candidate has posted on the web site a transcript of the spoken content of the advertisement. A campaign advertisement must not be disseminated as an advertisement by radio unless the candidate has posted on the candidate's web site a transcript of the spoken content of the advertisement.
For the purposes of this section, "Campaign advertisement" means a professionally produced visual or audio recording produced by a candidate, his or her political committee, or a political party committee, for the purpose of influencing the nomination or election of a candidate.
Violation of any provision of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars.
SECTION 33. Chapter 149 of the Massachusetts General Laws is amended by striking section 178 in its entirety and inserting in place thereof the following section:—Section 178.
Eligible electors entitled to vote in a federal, state, or municipal election, shall be entitled to absent themselves for the purpose of voting from any service or employment in which they are then engaged or employed on the day of the election for a period of two hours during the time the polls are open. Any such absence shall not be sufficient reason for the discharge of any person from service or employment. Eligible electors, who so absent themselves shall not be liable for any penalty, nor shall any deduction be made from their usual salary or wages, on account of their absence. Eligible electors who are employed and paid by the hour shall receive their regular hourly wage for the period of their absence, not to exceed two hours. Application shall be made for the leave of absence prior to the day of election. The employer may specify the hours during which the employee may be absent, but the hours shall be at the beginning or end of the work shift, if the employee so requests. The employer may require proof of voting from the employee, where proof of voting shall be made available and on a form prescribed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth at the time the polls in a voting precinct, ward, or town are open.
If by the day prior to the election, an employee believes that time off will be necessary in order to vote on the day of the election, he shall notify his employer.
This section shall not apply to any person whose hours of employment on the day of the election are such that there are three or more hours between the time of opening and the time of closing of the polls during which the elector is not required to be on the job.