By Ms. Wolf of Cambridge, petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3948) of Alice K. Wolf and others (with the approval of the city council) for legislation to reduce to seventeen years the age for voting in local elections in the city of Cambridge. Election Laws. [Local Approval Received.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PETITION OF:

Alice K. Wolf

Byron Rushing

Timothy J. Toomey, Jr.

William N. Brownsberger

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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

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An Act to enable seventeen year old residents of Cambridge to vote in local elections.

    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.           Notwithstanding the provisions of section one of chapter fifty-one of the general laws, or any other general or special law, rule or regulation to the contrary, citizens who are seventeen years old who reside in the city of Cambridge may, upon application, have their names entered on a separate registration list of voters established by the Cambridge Election Commission (Commission), and may thereafter vote in any Cambridge election on local questions and any Cambridge election for members of the city council or school committee. Such seventeen year olds shall be known as “local voters”.

SECTION 2. The Commission shall establish a separate registration list for local voters who shall fill out an alternative registration form. Upon turning eighteen, each local voter shall be taken off the separate list and notified that he or she must register as a regular voter in accordance with state law and guidelines. The Commission shall create and print at the city’s expense the special registration form needed for the purpose of registering local voters. If a local question appears on a state election ballot, the Commission shall print a separate ballot for the local question at city expense.

SECTION 3. Local voters shall not be eligible to run for office in municipal elections, nor shall they be eligible to sign candidate nomination papers.

SECTION 4. Local voters shall not be included in the number of voters for the purpose of determining the number of signatures needed to present petitions to the city council or school committee, nor shall local voters be eligible to sign such petitions. Local voters shall not be eligible to sign initiative or referendum petitions pursuant to Article 48 of the Amendments to the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution.

SECTION 5. Nothing in this act shall be construed to confer upon local voters the right to vote for any state or federal office or any state or federal ballot question.

SECTION 6. The Commission is authorized to formulate regulations and guidelines to implement the purpose of this act.