SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1794        FILED ON: 1/16/2015

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 394

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Bruce E. Tarr

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to remove unfair incumbent advantage from the ballot and to change "unenrolled" to "independent".

_______________

PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1794        FILED ON: 1/16/2015

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 394

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 338 OF 2013-2014.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth General Court
(2015-2016)

_______________

An Act to remove unfair incumbent advantage from the ballot and to change "unenrolled" to "independent".

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 6 of chapter 53 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking, in line 35, the word “Unenrolled” and inserting in place thereof the following word:- “Undeclared”.

SECTION 2.  Section 37 of said chapter 53 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking, in lines 14 and 15, the word “unenrolled” each time it appears and inserting in place thereof, in each instance, the word “undeclared”.

SECTION 3.  Section 37A of said chapter 53 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking the section in its entirety and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

“53:37A. Absentee ballots; application; undeclared voters; recording upon voting lists

Section 37A. A voter desiring to vote by absentee ballot in a primary shall specify on his application for the ballot the party with which he is enrolled or, if he is undeclared, the party in whose primary he desires to vote. A city or town clerk shall not supply any voter with the absentee ballot of more than one party at any one primary. If an enrolled voter requests the ballot of a party other than the party in which the voter is enrolled, the clerk shall supply the voter with the absentee ballot of the party in which such voter is enrolled.

The officers processing absentee ballots shall cause to be recorded upon the voting lists to be used at the polling place the political party in whose primary the absentee voter has cast his ballot if he is undeclared, or the officers charged with the casting of such absentee ballot at the polling place shall so record on the voting list the political party in whose primary the absentee voter has cast his ballot if he is undeclared.

If the voter was undeclared before selecting a party ballot, he shall continue to be undeclared and shall be recorded as undeclared in the current annual register of voters.”

SECTION 4.  Section 38A of said chapter 53 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking, in line 4, the word “unenrolled” and inserting in place thereof the following word:- “undeclared”.

SECTION 5.  Section 72 of said chapter 53 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking, in line 6, the word “unenrolled” and inserting in place thereof the following word:- “undeclared”.

SECTION 6.  Paragraph 3 of section 41 of chapter 54 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the third, fourth and sixth sentences in their entirety. 

SECTION 7.  Said paragraph 3 of said section 41 of said chapter 54 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking the words “Unenrolled being used.”, in line 15, and inserting in place thereof the following words:- “Undeclared being used.  There shall be no designation indicating incumbency.”. 

SECTION 8.  Section 42 of said chapter 54 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking the first paragraph in its entirety and inserting in place thereof the following:-

“Section 42. Except as provided in section forty-one A, under the designation of the office, the names of the candidates of political parties, as defined in chapter fifty, for election to any office to be filled at a state election shall be placed on the ballot in random selection; next and also by random selection the names of all other candidates shall follow.”

SECTION 9.  Paragraph 2 of said section 42 of said chapter 54 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking the first two sentences in their entirety and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- “Under the designation of the office, the names of candidates of political parties, as defined in chapter fifty,  for each municipal elective office shall, except as city charters otherwise provide, be placed on the ballot in random selection; next and also by random selection the names of all other candidates shall follow.”

SECTION 10.  Paragraph 3 of said section 42 of said chapter 54 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking the first sentence in its entirety and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- “The names and addresses of the candidates for regional district school committees elected district-wide at state elections shall be placed on the ballot by random selection.”