Voting' lists, unused ballots, etc., Said board shall retain in their custody the voting lists and undistributed and cancelled ballots transmitted to them in accordance with the provisions of the preceding custody, sections, during the same time as is above required by disposition, law for the preservation of ballots; and said board shall preserve the voting lists for future reference in such manner as they may deem best, and shall cause the cancelled ballots to be destroyed in the same manner as the ballots cast, but may make such disposition of the undistributed ballots as they may deem proper. etc. RECORDS AND CERTIFICATES OF ELECTION. 203. In determining the number of votes cast at an Record not election, no record of votes cast or copy of any such ter jected when record shall be rejected if the number of votes given for votes can be each candidate for an office can be ascertained. shall ascertained. 1893, c. 417, § 177. Examina rection, etc. 204. The board of election commissioners forthwith after every state and city election in said city tion of examine the copies of the records made by the election precinct reofficers of each precinct, and if any error appears therein, turns, corthey shall forthwith give notice of such error to the elec- Ibid. § 178. tion officers by whom the error has been made; and such election officers shall forthwith make under oath a new and additional record in conformity to the truth, and deliver a copy thereof to said board, and any such additional copy of the records made by the election officers, whether with or without notice as aforesaid, shall be received by said board at any time before the expiration of the day preceding the last day on which such clerk is by law allowed or required to transmit copies of records of the votes cast in the city or within which the results of the election in any such city are by law required to be declared. All original and additional copies of the Examinarecords made as above shall be examined by said board tion of and made part of the records of such election; and said board shall certify and attest copies of the records of records, votes for the several candidates, in accordance with the certification requirements of the provisions of said chapter four hun- of copies. dred and seventeen. pre cinct re turns, votes to secretary, etc. 205. Said board shall, within ten days from the day Returns of of any election in said city for representatives in congress, governor, lieutenant-governor, councillor, secretary, treasurer and receiver-general, auditor, attorney-general, Ibid. § 179commissioners of insolvency, clerk of courts, register of prcbate and insolvency, sheriff, district-attorney, or senator, or for electors of president and vice-president of the United States, transmit to the secretary of the Commonwealth copies of the records of the votes for such officers, which copies shall be attested and sealed by them. Voting, giv. ing of name, de. livery of ballot, etc. 1893, c. 417, § 161. Women. Marking of Ibid. § 163. MANNER OF VOTING. 186. A person when desiring to vote at an election for which ballots are provided at the expense of the Commonwealth or of a city under the provisions of said chapter four hundred and seventeen, shall, at the polling place for which he is registered as a voter, give his name, and if requested so to do, his residence, to one of the ballot clerks, who shall thereupon announce the same in a loud and distinct tone of voice, clear and audible; and if such name is found upon the voting list by the ballot clerk having charge thereof, the ballot clerk shall likewise repeat the name, and the voter shall then be allowed to enter the space enclosed by the guard rail. The ballot clerk shall give him one, and only one, ballot, and the name of the voter shall be immediately checked on the voting list. If the voter is a woman, she shall receive a special ballot containing the names of candidates for school committee only. 187. The voter on receiving his ballot, shall forthwith and without leaving the enclosed space, retire alone to one of the marking shelves or compartments, and shall, except in the case of voting for electors of president and vice-president, prepare his ballot by marking in the square a cross [X] at the right of the name and designation, if any, of the candidate of his choice for each office to be filled, or by inserting the name of the candidate of his choice in the blank space provided therefor, and marking a cross [X] in the square at the right of the same; and, in case of a question submitted to the vote of the people, by marking a cross [X] in the square at the right of the answer which he desires to give. Voting for 188. A voter,.who desires to vote for an entire group presidential of candidates for electors of president and vice-president electors. of the United States shall mark a cross [X] in the square at the right of the party or political designation immediately above such group, and such cross [X] shall count as a vote for each candidate in such group. If a voter desires not to vote for one or more candidates in the group for which he marks, he may erase the name of such candidate or candidates, and the cross [X] in the square abovementioned shall count as a vote for each of the other can didates in such group. When a voter desires to vote for another person, in place of a candidate whose name he has erased, he may insert in one of the blank spaces at the end of the groups of candidates for electors, the name of the person of his choice, and mark a cross [X] in the square at the right of such name. A voter who does not mark for any group of candidates, may vote for one or more candidates for electors, up to the whole number to be elected, by inserting a name or names in one or more of the blank spaces at the end of the groups of electors, and marking a cross [X] in the square at the right of each name so inserted. § 164. 189. A voter who declares to the presiding officer that Assistance he was a voter before the first day of May in the year in marking. eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, and cannot read, or who 1893, C. 417, declares that by blindness or other physical disability he is unable to mark his ballot, shall, upon request, be assisted in the marking thereof by one or two of the election officers, which officer or officers shall, if requested by him, be of such political party, represented among the election officers, as the voter may designate; and the officers' officer or officers so assisting shall certify on the outside certificate. of the ballot, that it was so marked with his or their assistance, and shall thereafter give no information regarding the same. The presiding officer shall require such declara- Declaration tion of disability to be made before him by the voter under of disability oath, and he is hereby qualified to administer such oath. 190. No voter shall place any distinguishing mark upon Certain his ballot, and no person shall place any mark against any name upon a ballot not cast by himself, and no election officer or other person shall place upon such a ballot any distinguishing mark whatsoever, except as authorized by the provisions of said chapter four hundred and seventeen. 191. If a voter spoils a ballot, he may successively Spoiled obtain two others, one at a time, upon returning each obtaining spoiled one, and all ballots so returned shall be immedi- others, canately cancelled by the election officers. under oath. marks pro hibited. Ibid. § 165. ballot, cellation. Ibid. § 166. Ballot to be 192. Before leaving the marking shelf or compartfolded, etc. ment, the voter shall fold his ballot, without displaying 1893, C. 417, the marks thereon, in the same way in which it was $167. folded when received by him, and he shall keep the same so folded until he has voted. No voter shall be allowed to occupy a marking shelf or compartment already occupied by another, nor to remain in such enclosed space more than ten minutes, nor to occupy a voting shelf or compartment for more than five minutes, in case all of the marking shelves or compartments are in use and other voters are waiting to occupy the same. Time allowed in enclosed space, etc. Depositing etc. 193. A voter after marking his ballot shall at once proballot, giv. ceed to deposit the same in the ballot box, shall let no one ing name, see his ballot so as to know how he is about to vote, and, Ibid. § 168. upon so offering to vote, he shall give his name and, if requested so to do, his residence, to the presiding officer, 1895, c. 425, who shall thereupon announce the name in a loud and $ 1. None but official ballots allowed, etc. distinct tone of voice, clear and audible; and if such name is found upon the voting list by the election officer having charge thereof, he shall, in a loud and distinct tone of voice, clear and audible, repeat the name and check it upon the voting list; and the voter may then deposit his ballot in the ballot box, which he shall do with the official indorsement uppermost and in sight. No ballot without the official indorsement, except as otherwise provided in section one hundred and forty-five (one hundred and seventy of this digest) of said chapter four hundred and seventeen shall be allowed to be deposited in the ballot box. No person shall so vote whose name is not on the name to be voting list, nor until the election officer as above shall checked on find and check his name thereon, unless such person presents a certificate from the board of election commissioners as provided by section sixty-six (sixty-four of this digest) of said chapter four hundred and seventeen, which certificate shall be checked as therein required. Voter's list or cer tificate. Voting 194. A voter who has entered the space enclosed by to be with the guard rail, shall mark and deposit his ballot without out delay; undue delay, and shall leave such enclosed space as soon ballots not as he has voted. A voter who has been given a ballot for to be |