PREPARATION AND FORM OF BALLOTS.

and furnish

155. All ballots for use in elections of state officers Ballots, shall be prepared and furnished by the secretary of the preparation Commonwealth; all ballots for use in elections of city ing. officers in said city shall be prepared and furnished by 1893, c. 417,

the board of election commissioners.

$129.

156. General ballots, intended for the use of all male General voters in a voting precinct, shall contain the names of all ballots. Ibid. § 130. candidates for election in such voting precinct who have been duly nominated and have not deceased, or whose nominations have not been withdrawn or rejected as invalid; and such general ballots shall, except in the case of candidates for presidential electors, contain no other

names.

dence, etc.

To the name of each candidate for a state office shall Candidate, be added the name of the city in which the candidate name, resiresides. To the name of each candidate for a city office shall be added the name of the street on which the candidate resides, together with his street number, if there is any; and to the name of each candidate for the Aldermen office of alderman at large in a city shall also be added at large. the number of the ward in which the candidate resides.

To the name of each candidate for a state or city office Political shall be added his party or political designation, expressed designa. in accordance with section seventy-nine of said chapter tion, etc. four hundred and seventeen (one hundred and eleven of this digest).

No greater number of candidates for any office bearing Candidates the same party or political designation shall be placed with same upon the official ballot than there are persons to be designa

elected to such office.

tion.

nominated

If the name of a political party, which at the preceding Designation annual state election polled for governor three per centum of certain of the entire vote cast in the state for that office, is used in candidates connection with some other name or term, in accordance with the provisions of section seventy-nine (one hundred and eleven of this digest) of said chapter four hundred and seventeen, as the designation of a candidate nominated

by signa. tures.

Arrange

ment of names, etc.

Special ballots for

school committee.

Squares and directions for mark. ing.

for a state or city office by a nomination paper, the words "nomination paper," or nom. paper," shall be added to

66

the political designation of such candidate.

The names of candidates for every state and city office shall, except in the case of candidates for presidential electors, be arranged under the designation of the office, in alphabetical order according to the surnames. There shall be left at the end of the list of candidates for each different office as many blank spaces as there are persons to be elected to such office, in which the voter may insert the name of any person not printed on the ballot, for whom he desires to vote for such office. Whenever the approval of a constitutional amendment is submitted to the vote of the people, or any other question is submitted to vote in a city in accordance with a statute providing therefor, such question shall be printed on the ballot after the list of candidates.

Special ballots containing only the names of candidates for school committee shall also be prepared in like manner and printed for the use of women qualified by law to vote for school committee.

Ballots shall be so printed as to give to each voter a clear opportunity to designate by a cross [X], in a square at the right of the name and designation, if any, of each candidate, and at the right of each question, his choice of candidates and his answer to such question; and upon the ballots may be printed such words as will aid the voter to do this; as "vote for one," "vote for two," "vote for Official in three," "yes," "no," and the like. On the back and dorsement. Outside, when folded, of each ballot, shall be printed the

words, "Official Ballot for," followed by the designation of the voting precinct for which the ballot is prepared, the date of election, and a fac-simile of the signature of the secretary of the Commonwealth, or board of election commissioners, as the case may be, who have caused the ballot to be prepared. Special ballots printed for the use of women qualified to vote for school committee shall have the additional indorsement, For School Committee

only."

66

tial elec

tors, ar

etc.

1893, c. 417,

§ 131.

157. The names of candidates for the offices of electors Presidenof president and vice-president of the United States shall be arranged in groups, as presented in the several certifi- rangement cates of nomination or nomination papers; and the several of names of groups shall be arranged in the alphabetical order of the candidates, surnames of the candidates for president, and the names of the candidates in each group shall be printed upon the ballots in two adjacent columns of equal width. If candidates are nominated at large and for the several congressional districts, the name and place of residence of one of the candidates at large shall be put at the head of each column, and the names of the other candidates with their places of residence, including the numbers of the congressional districts in which they reside, shall follow in the numerical order of the districts. The surnames of the candidates of each political party for the offices of president and vice-president, with the party or political designation thereof, at the right of the surnames shall be placed in one line above the group of candidates for electors of such party. There shall be left at the right of each such party or political designation a sufficient clear square in which each voter may designate by a cross [X] his choice for electors; and no other clear space or margin shall be left in any such group of candidates. There shall be left at the end of the groups of candidates as many blank spaces as there are persons to be elected to the offices of electors.

ment of names.

158. The name of any candidate to fill a vacancy in Vacancy, any office to be voted for at any election shall be placed arrange. upon the ballot under the designation of said office, to which shall be added the words: "To fill vacancy,” 1895, c. 196, with the term for which such candidate is to be chosen; § 1. and the name of such candidate shall be printed in a space separate and distinct from that in which the names of candidates for the full term are printed.

form, type.

159. The official ballots furnished in accordance with Ballots, the provisions of said chapter four hundred and seventeen paper, size, shall, except as otherwise specially provided therein, be 1893, C. 417, of plain white paper and in weight not less than that of § 132.

Special

paper for women's ballots.

State and city elec

tions, num.

ber of

ballots.

ordinary printing paper, shall be in two or more pages, and shall, before distribution, be so folded as to measure when folded not less than four and one half inches nor more than five inches in width, and not less than six inches nor more than thirteen and one half inches in length. The names of all candidates shall be printed in black ink in lines at a right angle with the length of the ballot. The names of all candidates, other than candidates for presidential electors and for president and vice-president, shall be in capital letters not less than one eighth of an inch nor more than one quarter of an inch in height. The initial letters of all names of candidates for presidential electors shall be in capital letters not less than one eighth nor more than one quarter of an inch in height; and the surnames and political designations of the candidates of each party for president and vice-president shall be in capital letters not less than three sixteenths of an inch in height.

The special ballots for the use of women qualified to vote for school committee shall be printed on tinted paper, but of a different tint from that of specimen ballots.

160. There shall be provided for each polling place at which an election for state or city officers is to be held, two sets of general ballots, each of not less than sixty ballots for every fifty and fraction of fifty registered male 1893, c. 417, voters therein, and likewise for a city election two sets of $133. special ballots, each of not less than sixty ballots for every fifty and fraction of fifty women registered to vote for school committee therein.

Packages, 161. All ballots, when printed and folded as provided books, etc. in section one hundred and thirty-two of said chapter four Ibid. § 134. hundred and seventeen (one hundred and fifty-nine of this digest), shall be arranged and fastened together in convenient numbers in packages, books, or blocks, in such manner that each ballot may be detached and Record of removed separately. A record of the number of ballots number fur- printed and furnished to each polling place shall be nished. kept and preserved by the secretary of the Commonwealth,

or the board of election commissioners, as the case may be, for the period of one year.

tain cases.

vote 1893, c. 417,

such

§ 135.

162. The secretary of the Commonwealth shall furnish Partial, for sufficient partial ballots in state elections to a city for use in certhe use of voters who by law may be entitled to for a part only of the officers to be voted for in city. There shall be printed on the back of such ballots, in addition to the official indorsement, such words as shall clearly indicate the class of voters for whose use the ballots are furnished, and such ballots only shall be furnished to such voters.

etc., of

163. In case a vacancy shall occur or be declared in Death, withthe list of nominations by reason of the death, withdrawal drawal, or ineligibility of a candidate, under the provisions of title candidate. three of said chapter four hundred and seventeen, the Ibid. § 136. name of the candidate nominated in accordance therewith to fill such vacancy shall, if the ballots are not already printed, be placed on the ballots, instead of the original nomination; or, if the ballots have been printed, new ballots containing the new nomination shall, whenever practicable, be furnished and substituted in place of those already prepared.