Massachusetts · statute · Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 54 · 189 active provisions
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 its territory into such number of wards…
Section 2. Each city shall be divided into convenient voting precincts, designated by numbers or letters and containing not more than four thousand inhabitants. Every ward shall constitute a voting precinct by itself, or shall be divided into precincts containing as nearly as may be an equal number of inhabitants, cons…
Section 4. All regular municipal elections and primaries held in any city after it has been redivided into wards or into any districts for electing city officers shall be held in such city as redivided. In the division of wards into voting precincts under this chapter, no voting precinct shall be so formed that it will…
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 shall be defined clearly and, so far as…
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 of every town having precincts or six th…
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 in section nine A.
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 to the letter designating such precinct,…
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 be designated by numbers or letters, an…
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 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 federal census shall remain unchanged fo…
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 description of such wards or voting prec…
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 for each voting precinct, one warden, one…
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 election officers as submitted to him by the…
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 clerk, two inspectors and two deputy in…
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 may be appointed. The warden shall be of…
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 regard to political party membership, voter…
Section 15. No person shall, at a state, city or town election, be eligible or act as an election officer in a voting precinct where he is a candidate for election; and if a person appointed an election officer becomes such a candidate, and does not forthwith resign his office, the mayor or selectmen, if he is a candid…
Section 16. If a warden, clerk or inspector is absent at the opening of the polls or subsequently on the day of election, or if the office is vacant, the deputy of such officer shall act for that election in his place. If the warden and deputy warden, clerk and deputy clerk, or an inspector and his deputy, shall be abs…
Section 16A. In any city or town which accepts this section, if the warden, clerk or inspector, or the deputy of any such officer, if any, is not present at the opening of the polls, the city or town clerk may appoint a person to fill such vacancy who shall be an enrolled voter of the same political party as the absent…
Section 17. At state elections in cities and in towns, and in city elections, the presiding election officer of each voting place or precinct shall detail two inspectors of different political parties to act as ballot clerks, who shall have charge of the ballots and shall furnish them to voters.
Section 20. Every election officer before entering upon the performance of his official duties shall be sworn before the city or town clerk, the presiding officer or clerk at the polls, or any officer qualified to administer oaths, and a record thereof shall be made.
Section 22. Election officers shall receive such compensation as the city council or the selectmen respectively may determine; but no deputy officer shall receive compensation except for attendance at the opening of the polls or for services in place of an absent officer.
Section 23. Upon the written petition of ten qualified voters of a ward or of a town, presented at least twenty-one days before a state or city election therein, the governor may appoint, for such ward or town for each voting precinct named in the petition, two voters of the city or town, who shall not be signers of th…
Section 24. The aldermen in cities, except where city charters provide otherwise, and the selectmen of towns divided into voting precincts, shall, twenty days at least before the biennial state or annual or biennial city election and ten days at least before any special election of a state or city officer therein, desi…