Massachusetts Statutes

Section 43. The names of the candidates for presidential electors shall not be printed on the ballot, but in lieu thereof the surnames of the candidates of each party for president and vice president shall be printed thereon in one line under the designation ''Electors of preside…

Section 43A. At state elections and primaries at which any of the following offices are to be voted for, such offices shall appear on ballots and on ballot labels on voting machines in the following order consecutively:—Presidential elector, senator in congress, governor and lieu…

Section 44. The official ballots shall, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, be of ordinary white printing paper, of two or more pages, and shall, before distribution, be so folded as to measure not less than four and one half nor more than five inches in width and not l…

Section 45. One set of ballots, not less than one for each registered voter, shall be provided for each polling place at which an election for state, city or town officers is to be held. The state secretary or the city or town clerk, as the case may be, may provide a duplicate se…

Section 46. Ballots, in convenient numbers, shall be arranged in packages. A record of the number of ballots printed and delivered to each polling place shall be kept by the state secretary, or the city or town clerk, for one year.

Section 47. If a vacancy occurs or is declared in the list of nominations, by reason of death or ineligibility, the name of the candidate nominated to fill such vacancy shall, if the ballots have not been printed, be placed on them or, if the ballots have been printed, ballots co…

Section 48. The state secretary in state elections, city clerks in city elections, and town clerks in town elections at which official ballots are used, shall, for every such election, prepare and cause to be printed in large clear type cards containing full instructions to voter…

Section 48A. The state secretary shall provide a voters' bill of rights, which shall summarize appropriate election laws of the United States and the commonwealth as the state secretary determines, in a form suitable for posting for every polling place for every election. The sta…

Section 49. The state secretary, at least five days before state elections, shall transmit to the city or town clerk printed lists of the names, residences and designations of candidates to be voted for at each polling place, substantially in the form of the official ballot, and …

Section 5. When a ward has been divided into new voting precincts, or the voting precincts thereof have been changed, the aldermen shall forthwith cause a map or description of the division to be published, in which the new precincts shall be designated by numbers or letters and …

Section 50. At least four days before a city election, city clerks shall cause to be posted in every voting precinct the names, residences and designations of all candidates duly nominated to be voted for in their respective cities, substantially in the form of the official ballo…

Section 51. In towns using official ballots the town clerk, at least four days before an election therein, shall cause to be posted in one or more public places the names, residences and designations of all candidates duly nominated to be voted for in the town, substantially in t…

Section 52. Before every state election, the state secretary shall make available a list of all candidates to be voted for. He shall also print with said lists the form of any question to be submitted to the voters. Such lists shall be public records and one copy shall be sent to…

Section 53. The election commissioners in the city of Boston, at least twenty-four days, and the registrars of voters in every other city or town, at least ninety days, before the biennial state election, shall cause to be sent to the state secretary mailing lists of the voters w…

Section 54. The state secretary shall cause to be printed and sent, in the manner provided in section fifty-three, arguments for and against every measure to be submitted to the voters of the commonwealth. No argument shall contain more than one hundred and fifty words. The secre…

Section 58A. Whenever any provision of the General Laws, submitted for acceptance to the voters of a city or town, is to be placed on the ballot at any election, the city or town clerk shall place it on the ballot in the following form:— (Set forth here a fair, concise summary an…

Section 59. Ballots for state elections shall be enclosed in a package by the state secretary, sealed and marked with the number of ballots of each kind therein, and specimen ballots, cards of instruction, cards containing abstracts of the laws imposing penalties upon voters, and…

Section 6. In the year 2001 and every tenth year thereafter, no later than June fifteenth, the board of selectmen of every town of less than six thousand, two hundred inhabitants may, on their own motion, or shall, when so directed by the town meeting, and the board of selectmen …

Section 60. The city or town clerk, on the day of every state or city election, before the opening of the polls, shall transmit to the election officers of each polling place therein, all things mentioned in the preceding section which have been provided for such polling place; a…

Section 61. If the ballots provided for any polling place are not delivered, or if after delivery they are destroyed or stolen, the city or town clerk shall cause similar ballots to be prepared; and upon receipt of such new ballots, accompanied by a statement by him on oath that …

Section 62. The biennial state election for the choice of the officers to be elected pursuant to sections one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty-two, inclusive, shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in every even-numbered year.

Section 63. Elections of state officers and city officers shall be called by the aldermen, and the city clerk shall, under their direction, cause notice of such elections to be conspicuously posted in the office of the city clerk or on the principal official bulletin board of suc…

Section 64. Notices or warrants for state and city elections and for the election of town officers in towns where official ballots are used shall specify by name all the offices to be voted for, and state, in the form in which it will appear upon the ballot, any question submitte…

Section 65. At an election of state or city officers, and of town officers in towns where official ballots are used, the presiding election officer at each polling place shall, before the opening of the polls, post at least three cards of instruction, three cards containing abstr…

Section 66. The state ballot boxes shall be used for receiving the ballots in state and city elections, and in town elections where official ballots are used. The election officers at each polling place shall, at the opening of the polls and before any ballots are received, publi…

Section 67. One voting list shall be delivered to the ballot clerks and another may be delivered to the officer in charge of the ballot box; provided, however, that the city or town clerk may opt to use only 1 voting list at the check in. When a ballot is delivered to a voter, th…

Section 67A. If the selectmen so vote, more than one state ballot box may be used at any polling place in any town at state elections and at town elections if official ballots are used therein. If more than one ballot box is to be used at any polling place as aforesaid, the votin…

Section 68. No election officer shall, before the public declaration of the vote, make any statement of the number of ballots cast, the number of votes given for any person, the name of any person who has voted or whose name has not been checked, or of any other fact tending to s…

Section 69. No persons except the election officers, supervisors, custodians of voting machines when acting in the course of their duties, the city or town clerks, and voters admitted for the purpose of voting, shall, during the progress of an election and until the public declar…

Section 7. Upon its own initiative a board of selectmen of a town may, and upon direction of the town meeting of such town said board shall, make any change in the voting precincts of said town, in the same manner provided in section six and subject to the restrictions contained …

Section 70. No more than four voters, besides election officers and supervisors, custodians of voting machines when acting in the course of their duties, and the city or town clerk, in excess of the number of marking compartments provided, shall be allowed at one time within the …

Section 71. The presiding officer at each polling place shall enforce the performance by election officers of their duties. During an election and the counting of the ballots after the close of the polls, he shall have authority to maintain order and to enforce obedience to his l…

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…