Chapter 54

Section 1. In the year 2001, and every tenth year thereafter, no later than June fifteenth, a city, by vote of its city council may, or if the existing wards in such city do not contain, as nearly as can be ascertained, an equal number of inhabitants, shall make a new division of…

Section 10. When wards of a city have been changed or when voting precincts in a city or town have been established, changed or discontinued, the city or town clerk shall forthwith give a written notice thereof to the state secretary, stating the number, designation and official …

Section 102. The state secretary shall prepare for the use of election officers, city and town clerks and registrars of voters such printed information and instructions as he may deem proper to facilitate the operation of sections eighty-six to one hundred and three, inclusive. S…

Section 103. The supreme judicial and superior courts shall have jurisdiction in equity to require the certification of any application for an absent voting ballot which the registrars have unreasonably refused to certify, to order the counting of any ballot improperly rejected, …

Section 103A. Sections eighty-six to one hundred and three Q, inclusive, of this chapter, sections twenty-one and twenty-seven of chapter fifty-six and sections thirty-four A and thirty-seven A of chapter fifty-three shall, so far as applicable, apply to special and regular city …

Section 103P. The provisions of this section shall apply to any regular annual or biennial city or town election, notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary. The mayor and aldermen in cities or selectmen in towns may fix the day of holding preliminary elections or…

Section 103Q. No mere informality in the manner or carrying out any provision of law affecting voting by absent voting ballot at an election shall invalidate such election or constitute sufficient cause for the rejection of the returns thereof, and such provisions shall be constr…

Section 104. The blank forms and apparatus provided by the state secretary shall be used in ascertaining the result of the election or vote in state elections in cities and towns, in city elections, in elections of town officers in towns where official ballots are used, and also …

Section 105. Procedures at any precinct where an electronic voting system is in use shall be in accordance with the provisions of section one hundred and five A. In any other precinct, if the state ballot box is used, the clerk shall, as soon as the polls are closed, record the t…

Section 105A. At any precinct using an approved electronic voting method, the clerk shall, as soon as the polls are closed, record the total number of ballots received, the number registered on the ballot box, and the total number of spoiled ballots. The election officers shall t…

Section 106. If the use of a state ballot box is required, no ballot shall be counted unless it has been deposited in and cancelled by such ballot box, or has been otherwise deposited in accordance with section sixty-six. Only official ballots shall be counted in any election for…

Section 107. The presiding officer at every polling place at elections of state and city officers and of town officers in towns where official ballots are used shall, after the record of the counting has been made, cause all ballots cast to be publicly enclosed in an envelope or …

Section 108. At any time after the election, upon written request of any person, the city or town clerk shall, within a reasonable time, open the envelope in which the voting lists have been enclosed, as provided in section one hundred and seven, and make a copy of the lists as c…

Section 109. City and town clerks shall retain in their custody the envelopes or containers containing the ballots cast, without examining them or permitting them to be examined by any person except as required by law, and upon the expiration of the period fixed for their preserv…

Section 109A. (a) For the purposes of this section, ''audited precinct'' shall mean any precinct selected under subsection (c) to conduct audits as provided in this section. (b) An audit shall be conducted pursuant to this section following any presidential general election. (1) …

Section 11. Subject to section eleven B, the mayor of every city, except where city charters provide otherwise and except as provided in sections eleven A and thirty-six, shall annually not earlier than July fifteenth nor later than August fifteenth appoint as election officers f…

Section 110. No record of votes cast or copy thereof shall be rejected if the number of votes given for each candidate for an office can be ascertained therefrom.

Section 110A. The returns transmitted under section one hundred and five shall be considered unofficial and shall be in addition to returns required under this chapter, and shall be disseminated as received by the state secretary from the central tabulation facilities established…

Section 111. The city or town clerk shall forthwith after each election examine the copies of the records of the election officers, and if any error appears therein, shall forthwith give notice thereof to the officers by whom the error was made, who shall forthwith make an additi…

Section 112. The clerk of each city and town and in Boston the Board of Election Commissioners, within fifteen days after the day of any election therein for a senator in congress, representative in congress, governor, lieutenant governor, councillor, state secretary, state treas…

Section 113. If any such copy transmitted to the state secretary is not sealed as required by law, he shall forthwith give notice thereof to the officers who transmitted the same; and thereupon another copy shall be made, attested, certified, sealed and transmitted to the secreta…

Section 114. The state secretary shall cause the date of the receipt of each copy of the records of votes to be endorsed on the envelope containing it; and if received unsealed, a memorandum thereof shall be made on the copy.

Section 115. The state secretary shall lay before the governor and council the copies of the votes cast. After such delivery, the governor, with at least five councillors, shall examine the copies. They shall tabulate said votes and determine who appear to be elected to the sever…

Section 116. The governor shall, in the presence of at least five councillors, certify to the results of the examination of the copies of the records of votes cast for governor and lieutenant governor, for councillors, for state secretary, state treasurer, state auditor and attor…

Section 116A. Any person whose name does not appear on the state election ballot, but who receives sufficient votes to elect him to an office appearing on said ballot, shall within three days after the certification of his election file a statement of financial interest under cha…

Section 117. After such certification, such copies shall be replaced in their respective envelopes and delivered with the certificate of examination to the state secretary, who shall on the first Wednesday in January lay the same, with schedules showing the number of ballots cast…

Section 118. The copies of the records of votes for presidential electors shall, in any event, within ten days after they have been transmitted to the state secretary, be examined by the governor and council, who shall thereafter declare, by proclamation, the names of the persons…

Section 119. Any person who appears, by the proclamation of the governor, to have received not less than one fifth of the entire number of votes cast for electors, may, if the election is contested, apply by petition to the supreme judicial court for Suffolk county, for a declara…

Section 11A. In any city subject to section eleven, the aldermen of which accept this section or have accepted corresponding provisions of earlier laws, no deputy warden, deputy clerk or deputy inspector provided for by said section shall be appointed.

Section 11B. The chairman of the city committee of each political party entitled to representation in the appointment of election officers may, not later than June first in each year, file with the registrars lists of enrolled members of such party who desire appointment as elect…

Section 12. The selectmen of every town shall annually, not earlier than July fifteenth nor later than August fifteenth, appoint as election officers for each voting place or precinct, except as provided in section twenty-four, one warden, one deputy warden, one clerk, one deputy…

Section 120. The petitioner and the contestant may appear and produce evidence at the hearing, and no person other than the petitioner or a contestant shall be made a party to the proceedings on such petition, or be heard thereon. If more than one petition is pending, or the elec…

Section 121. The county commissioners to whom the copies of the records of votes for county treasurer and register of deeds have been transmitted shall, on the first Wednesday of the month following the election, examine such copies, determine what persons appear to be elected, i…

Section 122. In each county, except Suffolk and Nantucket, the judge and register of the probate court and the clerk of the courts shall be a board of examiners; and if two of said offices are held by the same person in any county, the sheriff shall be a member of the board. The …

Section 123. If it shall appear to the governor and council, to the board of examiners, to the election commissioners or to the county commissioners, that any copy of a record of votes examined by them is incomplete or erroneous, they may order a new copy of the records to be mad…

Section 129. City and town clerks shall, within fifteen days after an election for representative in the general court, transmit to the state secretary an attested copy of the record of votes cast for all candidates for said office in each voting precinct and in each town not div…

Section 13. Such election officers shall be enrolled voters so appointed as equally to represent the 2 leading political parties, except that, without disturbing the equal representation of such parties, not more than 1/3 of the election officers not representing either of them m…

Section 130. The whole number of ballots cast at elections shall be stated in words at length in the records of votes and in all copies thereof, but if not so stated, the record or copy shall not be invalid if the true result can be ascertained therefrom.

Section 131. A violation by a public officer or election officer of laws relative to providing ballot boxes, blank forms and other apparatus or to the care and preservation thereof, or to the manner of canvassing and counting votes, shall not invalidate any record or copy of a re…

Section 132. The city or town clerk shall, within fifteen days after an election of state, city or town officers, certify to the state secretary the total number of voters checked on the voting list at such election in each voting precinct of the town. In the case of an election …

Section 133. The state secretary shall before February first of each year report to the general court the number of registered voters in each city and town at the date of the last preceding state, and city or town election, as the case may be, and the total number of persons who …

Section 134. If a person who has received votes for any office at an election shall, within thirty days thereafter, himself or by his agent serve upon a city or town clerk a written claim to such office or a declaration of an intention to contest the election of any other person,…

Section 135. A petition for a recount may be filed with the city or town clerk on or before five o'clock post meridian on the sixth day following a primary or preliminary election, or on or before five o'clock post meridian on the tenth day following an election, in a ward of a c…

Section 135A. For recounts of any election in an election district where voting machines are used all records of the election shall be transmitted to the registrars of voters for the recount, including the voting lists used at the election, the certificates issued to voters omitt…

Section 135B. The recount of the votes cast in any polling place where an electronic voting system is used shall consist of the inserting of the original ballots or ballot cards in a computer or tabulating mechanism which has been programmed and tested in accordance with section …

Section 136. No officer recounting ballots shall, except as required by law, make any statement or give any information relative to a ballot cast by a challenged voter.

Section 137. The city clerk shall not declare the result of an election for city officers or of a vote upon any question submitted to the voters until the time for filing a petition for a recount of ballots has expired, or, if such petition has been filed, until the ballots have …

Section 138. If, upon examination of the copies of the records of votes for presidential electors, it appears that a majority of the whole number of electors has not been chosen, the governor shall forthwith, by proclamation, call together the general court; and the senators and …

Section 14. For any primary or election, if the city or town clerk determines in writing that there is a deficiency in the number of required election officers within the 6 weeks preceding the primary or election, the appointing authority may appoint election officers without reg…

Section 140. (a) Upon failure to choose a senator or representative in congress or upon creation of a vacancy in that office, the governor shall immediately cause precepts to be issued to the aldermen in every city and the selectmen in every town in the district, directing them t…