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 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word "secretary", in line 43, the following words:- , 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 inserting after the words "office of", in line 10, the following words:- senator or.
SECTION 3. Section 28 of said chapter 53, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 3 and 4, the words "congressional elections shall be held on the fifth" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- elections for senator or representative in congress shall be held on the sixth.
SECTION 4. Section 46 of said chapter 53, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word "secretary", in line 8, the following words:- , 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. Section 139 of chapter 54 of the General Laws is hereby repealed.
SECTION 6. Said chapter 54 is hereby further amended by striking out section 140 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-
Section 140. (a) Upon failure to choose a senator or representative in congress or upon creation of a vacancy in that office, the governor shall immediately 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 in the precepts for the election of such senator or representative. The day so appointed shall not be more than 160 nor less than 145 days after the date that a vacancy is created or a failure to choose occurs. Filing a letter of resignation creates a vacancy under this section, even if the resignation is not effective until some later time, but the date of the election to fill a vacancy under this section shall be after the resignation is effective.
(b) If a vacancy under this section is created after February 1 of an even-numbered year, the governor shall not issue the precepts required by subsection (a), except as subsection (c) provides for a vacancy for senator.
(c) If a vacancy is created for senator in congress after April 10 of an even-numbered year, the governor shall issue precepts under this section, unless section 152 requires that office to appear on the biennial state election ballot in that year. If this section prevents issuance of precepts for senator, the office shall appear on the biennial state election ballot in that year. If a vacancy for senator is created after April 10 of an even-numbered year, but on or before the seventieth day preceding the regular state primary, the precepts shall appoint the day of the regular state primary and the biennial state election for holding the special primary and special election required by this section.
(d) If at the time a senator or representative in congress is elected at the biennial state election, there exists a vacancy in that office, the senator or representative shall also be deemed to have been elected to serve out that vacancy.
(e) A senator elected to fill a vacancy under this section shall serve for the remainder of the unexpired term.
This Bill having been returned by His Excellency the Governor with his objections thereto in writing (see Senate 2472) has been passed by the Senate, the objections of His Excellency the Governor to the contrary notwithstanding, two-thirds of the Senate (30 yeas to 6 nays) having agreed to the same.
Passed by the House of Representatives, notwithstanding the objections of His Excellency the Governor, two-thirds of the members present (121 yeas to 33 nays) having approved the same.