Pelling places, designa tion, prepa veniently situated, etc. VOTING PLACES. 144. The board of election commissioners shall, thirty days at least before the day of the annual state or city election in said city and ten days at least beration, etc. fore the day of any special election of a state or city 1893, c. 417, officer therein, designate and appoint the polling place § 121. for each of the voting precincts in said city and shall procure the same for such purpose, and cause it to be To be con- suitably fitted up and prepared therefor. Such polling place shall be in a public, orderly and convenient portion of the precinct; except that, when no such polling place can be had within the territorial limits of the precinct, said board may designate and appoint a polling place in some public, orderly and convenient place within the limits of any one of the adjoining precincts of such city, and, for the purposes of this act, the place so designated and appointed for the polling place of a precinct shall be deemed and taken to be included in and to be a part of such precinct, as though the same were within the territorial limits thereof. No building or portion of a building shall be designated, appointed, or used as a polling place, in which, or in any part of which, intoxicating liquor is sold or has been sold within thirty days next preceding the day of the election. Whenever the polling places have been so designated in said city, said board shall in at least ten public places, in each precinct of said city, forthwith cause to be posted a Notice to be printed description of the polling places so designated, and shall give such further notice thereof as they may in any case think necessary or proper. Places in which liquor is sold, etc., not to be used. given, etc. Marking shelves and guard rail. Ibid. § 122. 145. Said board shall cause each polling place in said city to be provided with a sufficient number of suitable marking shelves or compartments, at or in which voters may conveniently mark their ballots, so that in the marking thereof they may be screened from the observation of others; and they shall cause a guard rail to be so constructed and placed in the polling place that only such persons as are inside the guard rail can approach within six feet of the ballot boxes and of the marking shelves or compartments. The arrangement shall be such that neither the ballot boxes nor the marking shelves or compartments shall be hidden from the view shelves. of those just outside the guard rail. The number of such Number of marking shelves or compartments shall not be less than one for every seventy-five registered voters at such polling place, and not less than five in any voting precinct. Supplies, Each marking shelf or compartment shall be kept pro- etc., for vided with proper supplies and conveniences for marking the ballots. marking ballots. boxes. §§ 1, 2, 3. ELECTION APPARATUS AND BLANKS. State ballot 146. The secretary of the Commonwealth shall, at the expense of the Commonwealth, provide every city with 1893, c. 417, a state ballot box for use at every voting precinct or § 123. polling place therein. The ballot boxes so provided shall 1895, c. 508, be such as shall be approved by the secretary, treasurer and auditor of the Commonwealth, or by a majority of them, and shall have sufficient and secure locks and keys or seal fastenings, and shall contain mechanical devices for receiving, registering and cancelling every ballot deposited therein; but no such box shall record any number or mark upon a ballot, by which one ballot may be distinguished from another. All such ballot boxes shall be purchased by the secretary at a price not exceeding fifty dollars each. The secretary shall likewise provide every envelopes city with suitable blank forms and apparatus, such as shall for canvass be approved as aforesaid, for use at each polling place by the election officers in the canvass and count of votes. Blanks and of votes. Envelopes of votes, etc. 147. The secretary of the Commonwealth shall profor returns vide every city with suitable blank forms and envelopes for all certificates, copies of records and returns required by said chapter four hundred and seventeen to be 1893, C. 417, made to his office, with such printed directions thereon as he may deem necessary for the guidance and direction of the election officers; and he shall furnish such other blank forms and such suggestions and instructions as will assist the election officers in the performance of their duties under the requirements of said chapter. § 124. Ballot etc. Ibid. § 125. 148. The board of election commissioners shall proboxes and vide in said city a place for the safe and suitable keeping apparatus, of the ballot boxes and counting apparatus furnished care, repair, by the Commonwealth, shall have the care and custody thereof, shall see that they are kept in good order and repair, and if any of them are lost, destroyed, or irreparably damaged, shall replace the same by suitable ballot boxes or apparatus, approved as required by section one hundred and twenty-three (one hundred and forty-six of this digest) of chapter four hundred and seventeen of the acts of eighteen hundred and ninety-three and chapter five hundred and eight of the acts of eighteen hundred and ninety-five. The custody, care and repair of all such ballot boxes and apparatus shall be at the expense of the city, but shall be subject to the supervision and control of the secretary of the Commonwealth, who may, at the expense of the Commonwealth, subject to approval as aforesaid, cause necessary improvements to be made in any of such ballot boxes or apparatus. ballot boxes 1895, c. 508, § i. ballot 149. Whenever a state ballot box becomes defective, Defective the secretary of the Commonwealth shall, upon appli- may be cation by said board, furnish another ballot box in the replaced. place of such defective box, at the expense of said city. 150. An examination of ballot boxes of different pat- Examinaterns shall be made by the secretary of the Common- tion of wealth, the treasurer and receiver-general and the state boxes. auditor, as soon after the passage of chapter five hundred Ibid. § 2. and eight of the acts of eighteen hundred and ninetyfive as may be, under such conditions and after such public notice as they shall determine, and they shall certify their approval of such ballot boxes as shall fully comply with the requirements of section one hundred and twenty-three of chapter four hundred and seventeen of the acts of eighteen hundred and ninety-three, and no other ballot box shall hereafter be provided by the secretary of the Commonwealth to replace defective ballot boxes under the provisions of said chapter five hundred and eight of the acts of eighteen hundred and ninety-five. whom boxes are 151. Whenever state ballot boxes are purchased and Persons of approved, the persons of whom such ballot boxes are purchased shall give to the secretary of the Common- purchased wealth a bond, with good and sufficient sureties, to keep to give such boxes in good working order for two years, at their bond. own expense. Ibid. § 3. apparatus, 152. Said board may make such regulations, not in- Ballot consistent with the provisions of said chapter four hun- boxes and dred and seventeen, in regard to the use of ballot regulations boxes and seals, counting and other apparatus, as they 1893, c. 417, may deem expedient. § 126. as to use. Precinct seal, use, custody, etc. 1893, c. 417, § 127. Ballot box, etc., to be sent to 153. Said board shall furnish to the clerk of each voting precinct a seal of suitable device, the design of which shall include the designation of such precinct; and such seal shall be used in sealing all envelopes required by law to be used at the elections. The clerk of the precinct shall retain the custody of the seal, and shall, at the end of his term of office, deliver the same, together with the records of the precinct and other official documents in his custody, to said board. 154. Said board shall send to the election officers at apparatus, each polling place in said city on the day of an election or meeting at which the same are required to be used, before the opening of the polls, the ballot box, blank forms and counting and other apparatus provided by the secretary of the Commonwealth; and shall send therewith such ballot boxes, ballot box seals, blank forms and apparatus as said board may require to be used. |