Voting Said board shall retain in their custody the voting lists lists, un- and undistributed and cancelled ballots transmitted to used balthem in accordance with the provisions of the preceding lots, etc., 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. to be rejected when for votes can be ascertained. 1893, C. 417, shall $177. Examina rection, etc. 203. In determining the number of votes cast at an Record not election, no record of votes cast or copy of any such record shall be rejected if the number of votes given each candidate for an office can be ascertained. 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 preand made part of the records of such election; and said cinct reboard 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. turns, 205. Said board shall, within ten days from the day Returns of votes to etc. of any election in said city for representatives in con- secretary, gress, 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. votes in county of Suffolk. Returns of Said board shall, in like manner, within ten days after an election in Suffolk County for register of deeds, transmit to the board of aldermen of the city of Boston copies of the records of the votes cast in said city for such register, certified, attested and sealed, as aforesaid. Returns in Said board shall transmit all such copies of the records envelopes of votes in envelopes, upon the outside of which they properly inshall specify the offices for which the votes were cast, and, in case officers are elected for divisions of the Commonwealth, the divisions in which the votes are cast. dorsed. Proceedings when received un sealed. § 180. 206. If a copy of the record of the votes cast at an election in said city and transmitted to the secretary of the Commonwealth, in accordance with the provis1893, c. 417, ions of the preceding section, is received by him not sealed as required by law, he shall forthwith give notice of such fact to said board; upon receipt of such notice they shall make and attest another copy of the record of the votes cast at such election, which copy shall be certified by said board and transmitted to the secretary, sealed as required in the case of the original copy. If the second copy is received by the secretary before the copies of the records of the votes are examined and determination is made of the persons appearing to be elected, and if upon examination such copy is found to be in substantial conformity with the original copy of the records, the original copy shall not be rejected for not being sealed as required by law. On receipt, memorandum to be made. Ibid. § 181. Examina 207. The secretary of the Commonwealth shall cause a memorandum of the date of the receipt by him of each copy of the records of the votes, transmitted as required by the provisions of the preceding sections, to be made on the envelope containing such copy; and if such copy, when required to be sealed, is received unsealed, the secretary shall cause a memorandum of such fact to be made on the copy of the records. 208. The secretary of the Commonwealth shall duly tion by lay before the governor and council the copies of the governor and council. records of the votes cast at an election with their seals Ibid. § 182. unbroken. The governor, with five councillors, at least, votes, abstract for news shall, as soon as may be, open and examine all such copies of the records of votes, and determine what persons appear to be elected to the several offices in accordance therewith. Upon completion of such examination and Returns of determination, the secretary shall furnish to such newspapers published in the Commonwealth, as shall apply therefor, an abstract of the records of the votes examined. papers. 209. The governor, after examination and determina- Certificate tion as provided in the preceding section, shall, in the of examinapresence of at least five councillors, make and subscribe a certificate of the examination of the copies of the records of the votes for governor and lieutenant-governor, for councillors, for secretary, treasurer and receiver-general, auditor, and attorney-general, and for senators, and of the results of such examination, and he shall, in accordance Summons. with the constitution of the commonwealth, issue his summons to such persons as appear to be chosen to the tion. 1893, c. 417, § 183. said offices. The governor shall also issue certificates of Certificates election to such persons as appear to be chosen to the of- of election. fices of representatives in congress, commissioners of insolvency, clerks of the courts, registers of probate and insolvency, sheriffs and district attorneys, and such certificates shall be countersigned by the secretary and transmitted by him to the persons so appearing to be elected. secretary. Ibid. § 184 210. After examination and certification have been To be remade in accordance with the provisions of the preceding turned to sections, the copies of the records of the votes shall be replaced in their respective envelopes, and the governor shall deliver them and the certificate of examination thereof, made as provided in the preceding section, to the secretary; and the secretary shall on the first Wednesday in To be laid before legJanuary lay the same, together with schedules showing islature. the number of ballots which appear to have been cast for each person voted for, before the senate and house of representatives. in secre tary's office. Except for the above purposes, all the copies of the To be filed records of votes, both original and corrected, which have been duly transmitted to the secretary, shall be kept and remain on file in the office of the secretary, and be there Presiden tors, exami nation of returns of votes. open to the inspection of any interested party who may apply therefor. 211. The copies of the records of the votes for electors tial-elec- of president and vice-president of the United States shall, in any event, be opened and examined by the governor and council within ten days after the same have been transmitted to the secretary of the Commonwealth in ac1893, c. 417, cordance with the requirements of the provisions of said § 185. chapter four hundred and seventeen; and the governor and council, after examining the copies of the records and ascertaining therefrom the number of votes cast for Proclama electors, shall declare, by proclamation to be printed in at least one newspaper in each county, the names of the several persons who have received not less than one-fifth of the entire number of votes cast for electors and the number of votes received by each such person. tion. Issue of cer election is not contested. The several persons, up to the number of electors retificates if quired to be chosen, who have received the highest number of votes as so ascertained, and as to whose election no notice of a contest has been received by the governor in accordance with the provisions of the following section shall, at the expiration of fourteen days from the date of such proclamation, be deemed and taken to be elected; and the governor shall thereupon issue a certificate of election to every such person so found to be elected, and as to whose election no notice of a contest has been received. Petition of didates for declaration 212. Any person who appears, by the proclamation of certain can- the governor made in accordance with the preceding section, to have received not less than one-fifth of the entire of election. number of votes cast for electors, may apply by petition to Ibid. § 186. the supreme judicial court for the county of Suffolk, for a declaration of his election as an elector. Such petition shall set forth the name of every person whose election is contested and the ground for the contest, and shall be filed within seven days from the date of such proclamation. The petitioner shall, upon filing such petition, and before any proceedings are had thereon, recognize to the Commonwealth, in such sum and with such sureties as the |