Chapter 54

Section 71A. Election officers in cities and in towns shall perform their duties under the supervision of the city or town clerk.

Section 72. The select board, board of selectmen, town council or city council of each city and town, in consultation with its election officers and registrars, shall detail a sufficient number of police officers or constables for each building that contains the polling place for…

Section 73. Any person who, during an election or town meeting, shall, in a polling place or place of such meeting, smoke or have in his possession a lighted pipe, cigar or cigarette, or carry into any such place or keep therein any intoxicating liquor, shall be deemed guilty of …

Section 74. If a person at an election refuses to obey the lawful commands of the presiding officer or, by disorderly conduct interrupts or disturbs the proceedings of an election officer, the presiding officer may require any police officer, constable or other person to take him…

Section 75. Every election officer shall forthwith report every violation of any provision of sections sixty-five to eighty-five and one hundred and four to one hundred and thirty-seven, both inclusive, to the police officer or constable in attendance at the polling place, and su…

Section 76. Each voter desiring to vote at a polling place shall give his name and, if requested, his residence to one of the officers at the entrance to the space within the guard rail, who shall thereupon distinctly announce the same. If such name is found on the voting list, t…

Section 76B. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), a person desiring to vote, who fails to present suitable written identification when so requested by an election officer, shall be permitted to vote, but that person's right to vote may be challenged under section 85. (b)(1) …

Section 76C. (a) Whenever a person asserting a right to vote in a primary, caucus, preliminary, or other election appears at the polling place for the precinct in which that person resides, but that person is not permitted to vote, that person shall be allowed to deposit a provis…

Section 77. The voter on receiving his ballot shall, without leaving the enclosed space, retire alone to one of the marking compartments and shall, except in the case of voting for presidential electors or groups of candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, and except as p…

Section 78. In order to vote for presidential electors, the voter shall make a cross (X) in the square at the right of the party or political designation appearing on the ballot at the right of the surnames of the candidates for president and vice president, to vote for whom such…

Section 78A. In any year in which presidential electors are to be elected, not later than the sixtieth day prior to the date of the election, there may be filed with the secretary of the commonwealth, in a form to be prescribed by him, a list of names and addresses of candidates …

Section 79. A voter who states to the presiding officer that from blindness or other physical disability or inability to read or to read in the English language he is unable to prepare his ballot or register his vote upon a voting machine shall be assisted in such marking or regi…

Section 7A. Any precinct in a town where town meeting members are elected may be divided for the sole purpose of facilitating voting therein. Every such division of a precinct shall be designated by the addition of a letter to the number designating such precinct, or of a number …

Section 8. When a town has been divided into voting precincts or the voting precincts thereof have been changed, the selectmen shall post in the office of the town clerk and in at least three public places in each new precinct a map or description in which the new precincts shall…

Section 80. Except as authorized by this chapter, no voter, election officer or other person shall place on a ballot any mark by which it may be identified; nor shall any person place a mark against any name upon a ballot not cast by himself; nor shall any election officer engage…

Section 81. If a voter spoils a ballot, he may obtain two others, one at a time, upon returning each spoiled one, and all ballots so returned shall immediately be marked by an election officer ''Spoiled''.

Section 82. Before leaving the marking compartment the voter shall fold his ballot, without displaying the marks thereon, as it was folded when received by him, and shall keep it so folded until he has voted. A voter shall mark and deposit his ballot without undue delay, shall le…

Section 83. In a precinct at which a check-out table is used, a voter, after marking the voter's ballot, shall give the voter's name, and, if requested, residence, to an officer in charge of the ballot box, who shall distinctly announce the voter's name and, if requested, residen…

Section 84. No person shall remove any ballot from the space enclosed by the guard rail before the polls are closed. No voter whose name has been checked on the voting list in charge of the ballot clerk, other than an election officer or supervisor, shall again enter such enclose…

Section 85. If in any state, city or town election at which official ballots are used the right of a person offering to vote is challenged for any legal cause, the presiding officer shall administer to him the following oath: You do solemnly swear (or affirm) that you are the ide…

Section 85A. The state committee of a political party may appoint a person to act as a challenger of voters at any polling place in the commonwealth at a state election, and a city or town committee of such a party, in a city or town in which municipal officers are nominated by p…

Section 86. Any voter who during the hours that polling places are open on the day of a special state election or the biennial state election or of any special or regular state primary or of a presidential primary is absent from the city or town where he is a voter by reason of b…

Section 87. Prior to each biennial state election the state secretary shall prepare in such quantities as he may deem necessary the following papers: (a) Official absent voting ballots, similar in all respects to the official ballot to be used at such election, except that they s…

Section 88. The state secretary shall retain for his own use so many of the papers provided for in the preceding section as he may deem sufficient, and shall supply each city and town clerk in the commonwealth with as many of them as he may deem necessary.

Section 89. Any form of written communication evidencing a desire to have an absent voting ballot be sent for use for voting at an election shall be given the same effect as an application made in the form prescribed by the state secretary. No application for an absent voting bal…

Section 9. Any town of fewer than 6,200 inhabitants may discontinue its voting precincts; and subsequent elections therein shall be held as if no such division had been made. Any such discontinuance shall be subject to the second paragraph of section nine A.

Section 91. When an application for an official absent voting ballot is received by the clerk of a city or town, it shall be transmitted by him to the registrars, who shall examine it and, if they believe the signature thereon to be genuine and the person executing the signature …

Section 91A. A specially qualified voter, as defined in section one of chapter fifty, who qualifies for an absent voting ballot pursuant to section eighty-six, or a family member of such specially qualified voter, may apply for an absent voting ballot in the manner prescribed in …

Section 91B. The official absent voting ballot and accompanying papers described in section eighty-seven shall be delivered as hereinafter provided. (a) Except as required by subsections (b) and (c), the ballot and accompanying papers shall be mailed postage prepaid and with retu…

Section 91C. (a) For the purposes of this section, ''voter'' shall mean an individual voting pursuant to the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. (b) A voter wishing to cast an absentee ballot in any preliminary, primary or election may apply for such ball…

Section 92. A voter who has received an official absent voting ballot shall mark it in the presence of no other person, except as provided in section ninety-eight. The voter shall then enclose and seal the ballot in the envelope provided pursuant to clause (c) of the first paragr…

Section 93. All absent voting ballots submitted by mail, delivered in person to the office of the city or town clerk, returned to a secured municipal drop box for the city or town where the voter is registered or returned electronically pursuant to section 91C shall be received b…

Section 94. The city or town clerk or a person designated by him shall open each envelope purporting to contain an official absent voting ballot as soon as possible after receiving it, in the view of any persons who may be present. He shall remove therefrom the inner envelope pro…

Section 95. Any absent voter ballot cast pursuant to section 86 may be opened and deposited into a tabulator in advance of the date of the primary or election in accordance with regulations promulgated by the state secretary; provided, however, that municipalities that do not hav…

Section 96. All ballots transmitted under any provision of sections eighty-six to one hundred and three, inclusive, shall be subject to challenge when and as cast for non-compliance with any provision of sections eighty-six to one hundred and three, inclusive, or for any other re…

Section 97. No ballot transmitted under any provision of sections eighty-six to one hundred and three, inclusive, shall be rejected for any immaterial addition, omission or irregularity in the preparation or execution of any writing or affidavit required by said sections.

Section 98. An absent voter who because of blindness or other physical disability or inability to read or read in the English language is unable to prepare his ballot may at his discretion be assisted in marking it by any person whom he may designate. Such designated person shall…

Section 99. All envelopes received by clerks of cities and towns after the hour fixed for closing of the polls on the day of election shall be retained by them unopened until the time set by law for the destruction of ballots cast, at which time the envelopes shall likewise be de…

Section 9A. All regular municipal elections and primaries held in any town after it has been redivided into precincts or into any districts for electing town officers shall be held in such town as redivided. Any precinct established or remaining unchanged following the decennial …