HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2326 FILED ON: 1/14/2009
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 653
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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the Year Two Thousand Nine
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An Act relative to the joint election of the governor and lieutenant governor..
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 41A of chapter 54 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1998 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting the following before the first paragraph:-
Each candidate who shall seek a nomination for governor, under any method provided by law for such nomination, including primary elections, shall within seven days of qualifying for the primary election at the state nominating convention designate a candidate for lieutenant governor, and the names of the said candidate for governor and lieutenant governor shall be listed on the primary election ballot or otherwise considered for nomination jointly with each other. No candidate for governor may designate a candidate for lieutenant governor to contest for the said offices jointly with him without the consent of the said candidate for lieutenant governor, and no candidate for lieutenant governor may designate a candidate for governor, to contest jointly for said offices with him without the consent of the said candidate for governor, said consent to be in writing of a form provided for such purpose and filed with the Secretary of the Commonwealth. In any election, including a primary election, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor shall be listed jointly on the ballot, and a vote cast for the candidate for governor shall also be cast for lieutenant governor jointly listed on the ballot with him, and the election of governor, or the nomination of a candidate for governor, also shall constitute the election for the same term, or the nomination, of the lieutenant governor who was listed on the ballot or was being considered jointly with him.
SECTION 2. Section 34 of chapter 53 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1998 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the first paragraph the following paragraph:-
The surnames of candidates for governor and lieutenant governor shall be placed upon the state primary ballot in groups, first names, residential addresses, and the eight-word statement provided by section 45 shall not be added. A voter shall vote for such candidates in the manner provided by the last sentence of section 78 of chapter 54. The group in which appears the name of the incumbent governor shall be placed first, and the remaining groups shall follow in alphabetical order of the surnames of the candidates for governor.
SECTION 3. Section 45 of said chapter 53 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1998 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the fourth paragraph beginning in line 16 and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-
A state primary nomination paper for governor or lieutenant governor shall contain the names of candidates for both such offices. Otherwise, no nomination paper for use in the nomination of candidates to be voted for at state primaries shall contain the name of more than one candidate.
SECTION 4. Section 48 of chapter 53 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1998 Official Edition, in line 14, is hereby amended by striking out the words “governor, lieutenant governor”, and inserting the following:- governor and lieutenant governor as a group.
SECTION 5. Section 43A of chapter 54 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1998 Official Edition, is hereby amended in line 5 by striking out the words “at a state election”.
SECTION 6. Chapter 55 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1998 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 5B, the following new section:-
Section 5C. Candidates campaigning as a team for the office of governor and lieutenant governor in the primary and general election may organize a joint committee which shall have all the powers and duties of a political committee under the provisions of this chapter.