The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-04-21
THE MASSACHUSETTS PLAN
Main Provisions Of the Bay State DI-
rect Nominations Bill

Main Provisions OF the Bay State DI-
rect Nominations Bill
An act relative to the direct nomi.
nation Of candidates for state offices,
the election of state, ward and town
committees, and the holding OF state
conventions Of political parties.
BE II enacted by the Senate and
House Of representatives. in general
court assembled, and by the authority
of the same as follows:
Section /. The nomination of candi
dates Of political parties for all Off
ces TO be filed at state election Tex
cepting the Office Of presidential cleo
tori and the election of district
members of state committees, mem
bers Of ward and town committees.
and Of delegates to state conventions
of political parties shall be by direct
plurality vote in primaries.
The number of district members OF
the state committee, not less than
one from each senatorial district, and
the number OF delegates to the state
convention, not less than one for each
ward or town, to be elected shall be
fixed by the state committee and the
number of members of ward and
town committees, not less than three
for each ward and town, to be elect
ed shall be fixed by the city and town
committees. Notice of the number
OF delegates and of members of com
mittees shall be given by the state,
city or town committees, as the case
may be- to the secretary of the com
monwealth on or before the fourth
Tuesday preceding the day of the pri-
mary.
Section 4. The nomination of can
didates for nomination at primaries
shall be by nomination papers. In
the case of Offices to be filled by all
the voters of the commonwealth such
papers shall be signed in the aggre-
gate by at least 1000 voters, not less
than $50 to be from each of four diff
ferent counties; and in the case of
all other Offices TO be filed at a state
election by a number of voters equal
in the aggregate to five voters for
each ward or town in the district or
county, but in no case more than $50
The nomination of candidates for
election at primaries shall be made
as in the case of candidates for nomi-
nation for state Offices other than
those to be filled by all the voters of
the commonwealth.
Section s. Every nomination paper
shall state, in addition to the name Of
the candidate, % his residence, with
street and number thereof, if any, (2)
the Office for which he is nominated,
| CD the political party which he repre-
sents.
Such paper shall also contain the
statement that the signers thereof
are members of the party represented
by the candidate and are entitled to
vote in the caucuses or primaries OF
I that party; and whoever knowingly
subscribes falsely to a statement on
a nomination paper shall be punish
ed by Imprisonment for not more than
FIVE days or by a fine not exceeding
$50
From and after July first nineteen
hundred and twelve none but enrolled
voters of the party represented by a
candidate shall be entitled to sign
the nomination paper for such candi
date.
No nomination paper shall contain
the name Of more than one candidate
except in the case Of delegates to the
state convention and members o.
ward and town committees.
Section T. Nomination papers fol
use under this act shall be prepared
and furnished by the secretary o
the commonwealth upon request.
Section s. All nomination paper
of candidates to be voted for at stat,
primaries under this act shall be iilet
with the secretary Of the common
wealth; those of candidates for nom
ination for Offices TO be filed by al
the voters of the commonwealth OF
or before the fourth Tuesday, an,
those of all other candidates on or be
fore the third Tuesday preceding tn
day of the primaries.
Section IL. Ballots for use at pr
maries under this act shall be pre-
pared and provided and the numbe
thereof determined by the secretar.
of the commonwealth, and no othe
ballots shall be received or counted
provided, however, that If the ballot
provided for any polling place ar
not delivered or if after delivery the.
are destroyed or stolen, the city clerl
or town clerk or election commission
ers shall prepare ballots similar a
far as possible, which ballots may b
used.