33. Penalty for aiding unqualified persons to vote. 34. Penalty for disorderly conduct at elections. 35. Penalty on town or city officers for neglect of duty. 36. Penalty on clerks neglecting to return votes. 37. Elections in cities. 38. Ballots, after being counted, to 39. Ballots when sealed up to be 41. When right to vote is chal- 1. Form of warrants for ward 2. To be served by constables, and 3. Form of warrants for general 4. To be served by constables and 5. Time of opening and closing STATUTES. QUALIFICATIONS OF ELECTORS. Qualifications of county, and other elections. voters at town, Amend. const. arts. 3, 20, 23. G. S. 6, § 1. 11 Mass. 350. 11 Pick. 538. 5 Met. 162, 298, 587, 591. 1. Every male citizen1 of twenty-one years of age and upwards (except paupers, persons under guardianship, and persons excluded by articles twenty and twenty-three2 of the amendments to the constitution), who has resided within the State one year, and within the city or town in which he claims a right to vote six months next preceding any election of city, town, county, or state officers, or of representatives to congress, or electors of president and vice-president, and who has paid, by 7 Gray, 299. himself, his parent, master, or guardian, a State or county tax assessed upon him in this State within two years next preceding such election, and every citizen exempted from taxation but otherwise qualified, shall have a right to vote in all such elections; and no other person shall have such right to vote. 1 Indians were made citizens by Stat. 1869, c. 463, § 1. 2 Article twenty-three of the amendments to the constitution, relating to persons of foreign birth, was repealed in 1863. No person to vote G. S. 6, § 1. Collectors of taxes sons who have paid taxes, and to give receipt. 2. In any election of representatives to congress in this commonwealth, no person shall be allowed to vote for the same until he shall have resided in the congressional district where he offers to vote, six months next preceding such election, and shall be otherwise qualified according to the constitution and laws of this State; provided, that when the State shall be districted anew for members of congress, he shall have the right so to vote in the district where he is located by such new arrangement; and provided, also, that no voter residing in any city which now is, or hereafter may be, divided by the line between congressional districts, shall be deprived of his vote in the district in which he was assessed, or liable to assessment, on the first day of May next preceding such congressional election, if he be otherwise qualified. 3. The collectors of State and county taxes in each city and to keep list of per- town shall keep an accurate account of the names of all persons from whom they receive payment of any State or county tax, and of the time of such payment; and upon request shall deliver to the person paying the same a receipt specifying his name and time of payment; and such receipt shall be admitted as presumptive evidence thereof. G. S. 6, § 2. How persons may be assessed on or of September. 1869, c. 443. Proviso. with clerk on or before first of October. 4. When any person, on or before the fifteenth day of Septembefore the fifteenth ber, in any year, gives notice in writing, accompanied by satisfactory evidence, to the assessors of a city or town, that he was on the first day of May of that year, an inhabitant thereof, and liable to pay a poll-tax, and furnishes under oath a true list of his polls and estate, both real and personal, not exempt from taxation, the assessors shall assess him for his polls and estate; but such assessment shall be subject to the provisions of chapter one hundred and twenty-one of the acts of the year one thousand eight List to be deposited hundred and sixty-five; and the assessors shall, on or before the first day of October, deposit with the clerk of the city or town a list of the persons so assessed. The taxes so assessed shall be entered in the tax list of the collector of the city or town, and he shall collect and pay over the same in the manner specified in his warrant. Whenever any person shall make application to the assessors of any city or town of this commonwealth, to be assessed a poll-tax for the then current year, and it shall appear that such applicant was, on the first day of May preceding, a resident of said city or town and liable to pay a poll-tax therein, but was not assessed therefor, and that such applicant is, or has been during any portion of the two years preceding such application, engaged in the military or naval service of the United States, it shall be the duty of such assessors forthwith to assess such tax, and notify the treasurer of such city or town of the same, and the person so assessed shall, upon payment of said tax, be entitled to the Soldiers and sailors right to vote in said city or town to the same extent as if his taxes 1865, c. 68, § 1. had been assessed and paid in the manner heretofore provided by law. 5. The mayor and aldermen and selectmen of cities and towns shall, at least ten days before the annual city and town elections, and at least ten days before the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November annually, make correct alphabetical lists of all the persons qualified to vote for the several officers to be elected at those periods, and shall at least ten days before said elections cause such lists to be posted up in two or more public places in their respective cities and towns. 6. The mayor and aldermen and selectmen shall be in session at some convenient place for a reasonable time, within forty-eight hours next preceding all meetings for the elections of the officers aforesaid, for the purpose of receiving evidence of the qualifications of persons claiming a right to vote in such elections, and of correcting the lists of voters. Such session shall be holden for one hour at least before the opening of the meeting on the day of the election, and notice of the time and place of holding the sessions shall be given by the mayor and aldermen and selectmen upon the lists posted up as aforesaid. 7. In every place where the number of qualified voters exceeds one thousand, a like session of the mayor and aldermen or selectmen shall be holden on the day immediately preceding the meeting, and for as much longer time previous to said day as they judge necessary for the purpose aforesaid. When the day immediately preceding such meeting is Sunday, such session shall be holden on the Saturday preceding. 8. The selectmen shall also enter on such lists the name of any person known to them to be qualified to vote, and shall erase therefrom the name of any person known to them not to be qualified. 9. The mayor and aldermen and selectmen before entering upon the lists the name of a naturalized citizen, shall require him to produce for their inspection his papers of naturalization and be satisfied that he has been legally naturalized; but they need not require the production of such papers after they have once examined and passed upon them. Mayor and alder men and selectmen to make and post up lists of voters. Amend. const. art. 15. G. S. 6, § 5. To be in session for receiving evidence and to give notice of qualifications, thereof. Ibid, § 6. 7 Allen, 155. Sessions in places where voters ex ceed one thousand. G.S.6, 87. placed on lists after polls are 10. The name of no person shall be added to the voting lists Names not to be in any city of this commonwealth after the lists have been placed in the hands of the ward officers, unless the qualifications of said opened. person as a voter shall have been determined by the mayor and 1867, c. 206, §. 1. aldermen, at some meeting held previous to the opening of the polls; such fact to be verified by the certificate of the city clerk. Penalty for giving Selectmen, &c., when not answer able. Ibid. § 11. 3 Allen, 1. Sec § 31. Penalty for neglect, &c., by town offi cers. Ibid. § 12. Greenl. 411. East. 563. 11. Whoever gives a false name or a false answer to the mayor and aldermen or selectmen when in session for the purposes aforesaid, shall forfeit the sum of thirty dollars for each offence. 12. The mayor and aldermen and selectmen, if they have duly entered on said lists the names of all persons returned to them by the collectors, shall not be answerable for any omissions therefrom. 13. A city or town officer who wilfully neglects or refuses to perform any duty required of him by the provisions of this chapter, shall for each offence forfeit a sum not exceeding two hundred dollars. N. H. 88, 11 S. & R. 35. 11 Mass. 350. Elections not to be held on days desig CONDUCTING ELECTIONS AND RETURNING VOTES. 14. No meeting for the election of national, State, district, nated for military County, city, or town officers shall be held on a day upon which the militia of the commonwealth are by law required to do military duty. duty. G. S. 7, § 1. Meetings, when to be opened. for on one or on 15. Meetings for the election of national, State, district, county, Officers to be voted city and town officers may be opened as early as seven o'clock in the forenoon, and shall be opened as early as two o'clock in the afternoon of the election day, but in no case shall the polls be kept open after the hour of sunset; and the mayor and aldermen and selectmen shall decide whether such officers shall be voted for on one ballot or at the same time on separate ballots, and shall give notice thereof in the warrant calling the meeting. Meetings, how called, time to be City charters. Secretary of com- Clerks to procure envelopes from secretary. 16. Such meetings in towns shall be called by the selectmen in the manner ordered by the towns, and in cities according to the provisions of the acts establishing them and the acts in addition thereto; and the warrant for notifying such meetings shall specify the time when the polls for the choice of the several officers shall be opened, and the same shall be kept open at least two hours, and in towns for such longer time as a majority of the voters present shall by vote direct; but in no case shall the polls be kept open after the hour of sunset. 17. The secretary of the commonwealth shall provide and keep constantly in his office a sufficient number of self-sealing envelopes to supply all the voters in the commonwealth, and shall furnish the same to the clerks of the several cities and towns when applied for. Such envelopes shall be of uniform size and color and bear the arms of the commonwealth, and no other envelopes shall be used at the polls. 18. The city and town clerks shall obtain from the secretary such number of envelopes as may be sufficient to meet the wants of the voters of their respective cities and towns, and keep the G. s. 7, § 5. 19. The ward officers in each city, and the selectmen of each town, shall obtain from the city or town clerks, and provide at the polls on the day of election, a sufficient number of such envelopes, and supply each person claiming to be a voter in said city or town, on his personal application, with such number as the pending election may require, and return to the clerk all envelopes not used. Selectmen, &c., to provide envelopes at polls. G. s. 7, § 6. taining envelopes. Ibid. § 7. 20. Whoever wilfully claims to be a voter, knowing that he is Fraudulently obnot a voter where the claim is made, and by reason thereof fraudulently obtains an envelope from the persons having the custody of the same on the day of the election, shall be liable to a fine of not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars. 21. No vote shall be received by the presiding officers at any election provided for in this chapter, unless presented for deposit in the ballot-box by the voter in person in a sealed envelope, or open and unfolded, and so that such officers can know but one ballot is presented. 22. Votes for different persons for the same office found in one envelope shall not be counted, and if more than one vote for the same person for the same office is found in one envelope, but one such vote shall be counted, and no vote shall be counted which does not clearly indicate in writing the office for which the person voted for is designed, except when but one officer is voted for. Votes, how de posited. Ibid. § 12. Votes, when to be rejected, &c. G. S. 7, § 13. tions, how deter- 23. In all elections of civil officers by the people, the person Results of elecor persons having the highest number of votes shall be deemed and declared to be elected; but no persons receiving the same number of votes shall be deemed to be elected, if thereby a art. 14. greater number would be elected than required by law. 24. The votes in elections for national, State, county, and district officers, shall be received, sorted, and counted, by the selectmen, and by the ward officers, and public declaration made thereof in open town and ward meetings. The names of persons voted for, the number of votes received for each person, and the title of the office for which he is proposed, shall be entered in words at length by the town and ward clerks in their records. The ward clerks shall forthwith deliver to the city clerks certified copies of such records, who shall forthwith enter the same in the city records. Selectmen and ward officers to S. 7, § 15. count votes. G. See G. S. 9, §§ 4, 12 See §§ 38-40, post. men and clerk to examine returns, 25. The mayor and aldermen and the clerk of each city shall Mayor and alderforthwith after an election examine the returns made by the returning officers of each ward in such city, and if any error and, if faulty, to re |