The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PETITION OF:
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PETITION OF:
Mary S. Rogeness
George N. Peterson, Jr.
John A. Lepper
Viriato Manuel deMacedo
Paul K. Frost
Elizabeth A. Poirier
Robert S. Hargraves
Karyn E. Polito
Richard J. Ross
Susan Williams Gifford
Jeffrey Davis Perry
Paul J. P. Loscocco
Todd M. Smola
Donald F. Humason, Jr.
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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.
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An Act relative to filling vacancies in the office of senator or representative in congress. |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 7 of chapter 53 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2004 Official Edition, is hereby amended in by striking, in lines 44 to 50, inclusive, the following:- “except that, for special elections for senator or representative in congress, every nomination paper shall be submitted to the registrars of the city or town where the signers appear to be voters at or before 5:00 p.m. of the fourteenth day preceding the day on which it must be filed with the state secretary, and certification of nomination papers of candidates shall be completed no later than the 72 weekday hours before the final hour for filing those papers with the state secretary”.
SECTION 2. Section 10 of said chapter 53, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking, in line 10, the following:- “senator or”.
SECTION 3. Section 28 of said chapter 53, as so appearing, is hereby amended, in lines 3 and 4, by striking out the words “elections for senator or representative in congress shall be held on the sixth” and inserting in place thereof the following:- congressional elections shall be held on the fifth.
SECTION 4. Section 46 of said chapter 53, as so appearing, is hereby amended, in lines 8 to 15, inclusive, by striking out the following:- “, except that, for special elections for senator or representative in congress, every nomination paper shall be submitted to the registrars of the city or town where the signers appear to be voters at or before 5:00 p.m. of the fourteenth day preceding the day on which it must be filed with the state secretary, and certification of nomination papers of candidates shall be completed no later than the 72 weekday hours before the final hour for filing those papers with the state secretary’.
SECTION 5. Chapter 54 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out section 140 and inserting in place thereof the following section:--
Section 140. (a) Upon failure to choose a senator in congress or upon a vacancy in said office, the vacancy shall be filled for the unexpired term at the following biennial state election provided said vacancy occurs not less than seventy days prior to the date of the primaries for nominating candidates to be voted for at such election, otherwise at the biennial state election next following.
Pending such election the governor shall make a temporary appointment to fill the vacancy, and the person so appointed shall serve until the election and qualification of the person duly elected to fill such vacancy.
(b) Upon failure to choose a representative in congress or upon a vacancy in said office, the governor shall cause precepts to be issued to the aldermen in every city and the selectmen in every town in the district, directing them to call an election on the day appointed therein for the election of such representative.
If at the time a representative is elected at the biennial state election, there exists a vacancy in said office, said representative shall also be deemed to have been elected to serve out such vacancy.
SECTION 6. This act shall take effect immediately upon its passage.