Massachusetts Statutes

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 …

Section 1. For the purpose of this chapter, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context, the following words shall have the following meanings: [ Definition of "Adult-care services'' inserted by 2025, 9, Sec. 32 effective July 1, 2025. See 2025, 9, Sec. 138.] "Adu…

Section 10. No person shall, directly or indirectly, make a campaign contribution in any name except his own nor in any manner for the purpose of disguising the true origin of the contribution nor unless he makes his name and residential address known to the person receiving such…

Section 10A. (a) Contributions made by a person to or on behalf of a particular candidate, including contributions made through an intermediary or conduit, shall be treated as contributions from such person to such candidate. (b) Contributions made to a candidate, such candidate'…

Section 11. No person, no political committee and no person acting under the authority of a political committee or in its behalf, shall demand, solicit, ask or invite from a candidate for nomination or election to public office, or a person occupying an elective public office, an…

Section 12. No political committee, and no person acting under its authority or in its behalf, shall demand or solicit from any candidate for nomination to elective office, or from any one acting in his behalf, a payment of money or a promise of payment of money, as a prerequisit…

Section 13. No person employed for compensation, other than an elected officer, by the commonwealth or any county, city or town shall directly or indirectly solicit or receive any gift, payment, contribution, assessment, subscription or promise of money or other thing of value fo…

Section 14. No person shall in any building or part thereof occupied for state, county or municipal purposes demand, solicit or receive any payment or gift of money or other thing of value for the purposes set forth in section thirteen. Any appointed officer or employee convicted…

Section 15. No officer, clerk or other person in the service of the commonwealth or of any county, city or town shall, directly or indirectly, give or deliver to an officer, clerk or person in said service, or to any councillor, member of the general court, alderman, councilman o…

Section 16. No person in the public service shall, for that reason, be under obligation to contribute to any political fund, or to render any political service, and shall not be removed or otherwise prejudiced for refusing to do so. Violation of any provision of this section shal…

Section 16A. No person doing business with the commonwealth shall, for that reason, be under obligation to contribute to any political fund, or to render any political service, and shall not be otherwise prejudiced for refusing to do so. Violations of any provisions of this secti…

Section 16B. No person employed for compensation shall be under any obligation to contribute to any candidate or political committee, or to render any political service on account of, or as a consequence of, his employment, and such person shall not be removed or otherwise prejud…

Section 17. No officer or employee of the commonwealth or of any county, city or town shall discharge, promote, or degrade an officer or employee, or change his official rank or compensation, or promise or threaten so to do, for giving, withholding or neglecting to make a contrib…

Section 18. (a) Each candidate and each treasurer of a political committee shall, except as provided in this section and section 24, file with the director reports of contributions received and expenditures made. A candidate and a committee organized on behalf of a candidate seek…

Section 18A. (a) Every individual, group, association, corporation, labor union, political committee or other entity that makes independent expenditures in an aggregate amount exceeding $250 during any calendar year for the express purpose of promoting the election or defeat of a…

Section 18B. Each candidate or elected official who sponsors a fund raising event in the commonwealth on behalf of a non-resident candidate shall file with the director reports of contributions received by the non-resident candidate as a result of said fund raising event on forms…

Section 18C. (a) The director shall develop an electronic reporting system for the submission, retrieval, storage and public disclosure of campaign finance reports and financial activity statements required to be filed with the director. (b) The following individuals and politica…

Section 18D. (a) For the purposes of this section the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:— ''Expenditure'', any payment made or liability incurred by a vendor on behalf of a political committee or on behalf of an indivi…

Section 18E. (a) Legal defense funds may be created by a candidate, a state party committee or the candidate's political committee to defend against a criminal matter or to pay costs associated with a civil matter that is not primarily personal in nature. Inauguration funds may b…

Section 18F. Every individual, group, association, corporation, labor union or other entity not defined as a political committee who makes an electioneering communication expenditure in an aggregate amount exceeding $250 during a calendar year shall electronically file with the d…

Section 18G. An independent expenditure or electioneering communication made by an individual, corporation, group, association, labor union or other entity which is transmitted through paid radio, television or internet advertising shall include a statement disclosing the identit…

Section 19. (a) Candidates for state office or for county office, or mayor, and candidates for city council or alderman in a city with a total population, as determined by the most recent decennial federal census, of 65,000 or more persons and the treasurer of each state committe…

Section 2. Every candidate shall keep detailed accounts of all contributions received by him, or by a person acting on his behalf, and of all expenditures made by him, or by a person acting on his behalf. Said accounts may be kept by an agent duly authorized thereto, but the cand…

Section 22. Any person or the treasurer of a corporation, association, organization or other group of persons, other than a political committee organized under section 5, which has given, paid, expended or contributed, or promised to give, pay, expend or contribute, any money or …

Section 22A. The treasurer of any city, town, or other governmental unit which has given, paid, expended or contributed, or promised to give, pay, expend or contribute any money or any valuable thing in order to influence or affect the vote on any question submitted to the voters…

Section 23. Whoever, acting under the authority or in behalf of a political committee, receives any money or its equivalent, or promise of the same, or expends or incurs any liability to pay the same, shall, on demand, and in any event within three business days after such receip…