reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 51 § 52a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 52a - Solicitation of Votes and Distribution of Campaign Literature in Registration Offices Prohibited; Penalties

Section 52A. No candidate for public office, or any person acting on behalf of a candidate, shall solicit votes or distribute campaign literature in any office where registration of voters is being conducted. Whoever violates this section shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year in a house of correction or by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.
MA Gen L ch 51 § 53 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 53 - Police Assistance at Meetings

Section 53. The board of police or officer in charge of the police force of a city or town shall, when requested by the registrars, detail a sufficient number of police officers to attend any meeting held by a registrar in the performance of his duties, and to preserve order and enforce his directions.
MA Gen L ch 51 § 54 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 54 - Supervisors of Registration; Appointment; Duties; Interference With Supervisors; Penalties

Section 54. The governor, with the advice and consent of the council, shall, on the petition of not less than ten qualified voters of a city or town, appoint for a term of one year two supervisors of registration for each place of registration therein, one from each of the two leading political parties. They shall attend all sessions or meetings for registration held at the places for which they are appointed, and either of them may attach to any book or papers there used for purposes of registration any statement touching the truth or fairness of the proceedings which he may deem proper, and may add thereto his signature or other marks for the purpose of identification.  Whoever interferes with, or aids or abets any person in interfering with, any supervisor of registration in the performance of his duty, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year.
MA Gen L ch 51 § 55 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 55 - Preparation of Voting Lists; Contents and Arrangement; Distribution; Revisions

Section 55. Registrars shall, from the names entered in the annual register and from the names maintained on the inactive voters list, prepare voting lists for use at elections; provided, however, that such registrars shall not enter the names of women voters in separate columns or lists. In such voting lists, such registrars shall place the names of all voters entered on the annual register and those maintained on the inactive voters list and opposite to the name of each his residence and party enrollment. The registrars shall maintain separate voting lists for active and inactive voters or one voting list if inactive voters are designated as such on the voting list. In cities they shall prepare such voting lists by wards, and if a ward or town is divided into voting precincts, they shall prepare the same by precincts. In all such cities and in towns having five thousand or more inhabitants, the voting lists shall be arranged by streets in alphabetical order, and the names of the voters on each street shall be arranged in the numerical order of the street numbers of their residences, so far as possible. All first voting lists shall be printed and available for public distribution not later than the first day of July in state election years. A sufficient number of voting lists shall be printed so that they can be furnished free of charge, upon request, to all duly organized political committees, and to all political candidates for public office in the various districts in which the city or town is located and for a reasonable fee, not to exceed the cost of printing such list, to any person upon request. Names shall be added thereto or taken therefrom as persons are found to be qualified or not qualified to vote. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the voting lists to be used at presidential primaries or any primary or election held prior to July first in any year may be that of the year preceding, revised as aforesaid.
MA Gen L ch 51 § 57 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 57 - Posting of Lists; Copies for State Political Committees

Section 57. They shall, at least twenty days before the annual or biennial city or town election, and except in Boston, at least sixty days before the biennial state election, cause copies of the voting lists provided for in the two preceding sections to be posted in their principal office and in one or more other public places in the city or town, and in each ward of a city and in each precinct of a town. Upon application made by any state political committee organized in accordance with law, the clerk of the board of registrars shall furnish to it a copy of the voting list free of charge.
MA Gen L ch 51 § 58 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 58 - New Names Added to Lists; Distribution of Copies; Posting or Publication

Section 58. If a new name is added to the annual register after the voting lists have been posted, registrars shall cause it to be added to the lists posted in their principal office; provided, however, that all registrars shall maintain lists of new names added to the annual registers subsequent to the last posting of the voting lists and such lists shall contain in addition to the names, the addresses, wards and precincts, if any, and party designations, if any, of the newly registered voters; and, provided further, that all registrars shall provide copies of such lists to all duly organized political committees, and to all political candidates for public office in the various districts in which the city or town is located, and, for a reasonable fee, not to exceed the cost of printing or copying such list, to any other person upon request. If a city or town shall authorize the registrars to publish the names added to the register, they may, instead of posting them, cause all additional names to be printed in a newspaper published in the city or town, if any, otherwise in a newspaper published in the county.
MA Gen L ch 51 § 59 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 59 - Certificate in Case of Omissions or Clerical Errors; Voting Procedure

Section 59. Whenever the name of a voter, appearing at a polling place to vote in a primary, caucus or election or preliminary election, does not appear on a voting list prepared as required by section fifty-five or in whose name or residence, as placed on such list, a clerical error has been made, the presiding officer shall attempt to identify such voter and his right to vote at such polling place by consulting the inactive voters list, which list the registrars of voters shall make available at the polling place for this purpose and then, if necessary, by communicating with the board of registrars by telephone or other means at his disposal. If the presiding officer is then satisfied that such voter is entitled to vote, he shall issue a certificate in a form supplied by the registrars, stating the name, residence and party enrollment, if any, of the voter so identified, and such certificate shall be signed by such presiding officer. The certificate shall be attached to and be considered part of the voting list, returned and preserved therewith, and such voter shall be allowed to vote.  Whenever the presiding officer, after a reasonable attempt, is unable to identify a voter whose name does not appear on the voting list, such voter may request permission to vote from the registrars of voters. If said registrars find that the name of such voter has been omitted from the voting list, or a clerical error has been made in his name or residence, as placed on such list, the registrars shall issue a certificate of name, residence and party enrollment, if any, as stated on the annual register, signed by a majority of the registrars. On presentation thereof to the presiding officer of the polling place in which the voter was registered, or is authorized to vote, such voter shall be allowed to vote, and his name shall be checked on the certificate, which shall be attached to and considered a part of the voting list and returned and preserved therewith; provided, however, that if such voter desires to vote at the office of the city or town clerk or election commissioners, an absentee ballot shall be issued to such voter, who shall mark it and enclose it in an absentee ballot envelope, together with the certificate. The clerk or commissioner shall then mark on the envelope ''Listing Error'', and as soon as practicable shall transmit such envelope to the proper polling place. Such ballot shall be cast and counted as if the voter had appeared personally, and the certificate shall be attached to and considered part of the voting list. The envelopes shall be preserved in the same manner as other absentee ballot envelopes.
MA Gen L ch 51 § 60 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 60 - Voting Lists for Use at Polls

Section 60. Before every election and meeting in a city or town at which voting lists may be required to be used, the registrars shall prepare such lists for each ward, voting precinct, polling place or town in which such election or meeting is being held, containing the names and residences of all persons qualified to vote therein, as the same appear upon the annual register, and shall seasonably transmit the same to the election officers in every such ward, voting precinct, polling place or town. Such registrars shall also make available at such locations the inactive voters list. Such voting lists shall be in duplicate for all elections and meetings at which duplicate lists are required to be used.
MA Gen L ch 51 § 61 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 61 - Certification of Registered Voters

Section 61. They shall forthwith, after the final day for registration before a biennial state or regular city or town election, certify to the state secretary the number of registered voters in the city or town, and in each ward and precinct therein.  In cities where the city clerk is not a member of the board of registrars, the registrars shall likewise, after the last day for registration for a city election, certify to the city clerk the number of registered voters in the city, and in each ward and voting precinct therein.
MA Gen L ch 51 § 62 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 62 - Certified Copies for Use at Caucus; Party Enrollment Designations

Section 62. When a caucus is called, the registrars, on the request of the chairman of the ward or town committee of the party whose caucus is to be held or of the person designated to call the caucus to order, shall furnish him for use in the caucus a certified copy of the last published voting list of the town, or of the ward of the city for which the caucus is to be held, adding thereto the names of voters registered since such publication. Said lists, if intended for use in the caucus of a political party, shall contain the party enrollment of voters whose names appear thereon established as provided in sections thirty-seven and thirty-eight of chapter fifty-three.
MA Gen L ch 51 § 63 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 63 - Lists Furnished for New Wards and Voting Precincts

Section 63. After the biennial state election in nineteen hundred and forty-four, and in every tenth year thereafter for the purpose of furnishing the information necessary for a new division of a city into wards and voting precincts and of a town of twelve thousand inhabitants or over, which has been divided into voting precincts, into new voting precincts, the registrars shall deliver to the clerk of each city and of each such town, on or before the first Tuesday after the said election, a list of all voters therein who were registered for such election, which shall be so arranged as to show the number of voters residing in each ward or in each precinct, as the case may be, by streets. The registrars shall likewise in any other year, upon the request of the aldermen in cities or of the selectmen in such towns, furnish, for the purpose of dividing a ward into voting precincts or, unless otherwise prohibited by law, of dividing any such town into new voting precincts, a list of the voters of any ward in a city or of any precinct in such town, arranged as aforesaid.
MA Gen L ch 51 § 64 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 64 - Online Portal for Verification of Registration or Pre-Registration Status

Section 64. The state secretary shall create and maintain an online portal through which a person, including those who have pre-registered pursuant to section 47A, may check to determine whether that person is registered or pre-registered to vote. The portal shall allow a person to enter the person's name, date of birth and residential zip code. The portal shall subsequently display whether a voter with that name, date of birth and residential zip code is registered or pre-registered to vote, whether the registration of the voter is active or inactive pursuant to section 37A, the polling location for the voter and state and federal elected officials who represent the voter. The portal shall not display any other biographical information about the voter except the information provided by the user of the site. If there is no voter in the central registry of voters matching the information submitted to the portal or if the voter's registration is inactive, the website shall inform the user how the user may obtain a voter registration form or restore the user's registration to active status.
MA Gen L ch 51 § 66 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 51 - Voters|Section 66 - Provision of Data to State Secretary for Maintenance of Voter Lists; Provision of Data to Electronic Registration Information Center, inc.; Centralized Data Management

Section 66. The registry of motor vehicles, and any other state agency, shall provide data, as deemed necessary by the state secretary, for the purposes of maintaining accurate and complete voter lists. Not less than every 2 months, the registry of motor vehicles, and any other state agency the state secretary designates, shall electronically transmit to the state secretary all data, as directed by the state secretary, that is relevant to the purposes of voter registration, including, if available, the following record fields: (i) name, current address, mailing address, date of birth, driver's license number or last 4 digits of the social security number and telephone number; (ii) date, time and nature of the last change to the information; and (iii) any additional information designated by the state secretary for such purposes and reasonably related to maintaining accurate and complete voter lists.  The state secretary shall provide the names and addresses and other data contained in the central registry of voters, as well as information received from the registry of motor vehicles and any other agency received for the purpose of maintaining accurate and complete voting lists, to the Electronic Registration Information Center, Inc.  The state secretary shall implement, if practicable, a centralized system to manage and evaluate data received from the Electronic Registration Information Center, Inc. to send mailings to voters centrally rather than from the local level. In the absence of such central management, if any actions regarding possibly inaccurate information in the central registry requires any action by the registrars, the secretary shall provide any such information to the registrars in electronic form and in a manner minimizing data management at the local level.
MA Gen L ch 52 § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 52 - Political Committees|Section 2 - Ward and Town Committees; Elections; Terms

Section 2. Each political party shall, in every ward and town, elect at the presidential primaries a ward or town committee from among the members of the party who either have enrolled on or before the ninetieth day prior to the last day for filing nomination papers for such committees with the state secretary, or are newly registered voters in their city or town enrolled in that political party and have not been enrolled in another political party during the year preceding such last day for filing nomination papers. Ward and town committee members shall hold office for a period of four years ending on the thirtieth day following the day on which the presidential primaries are next held and until their successors shall have organized. If any member changes his residence from the ward or town in which he was elected during the said four years, he shall cease to be a member at the end of the calendar year during which said residence is changed. If any member, whether elected or chosen to fill a vacancy, cancels or changes his party enrolment he shall forthwith cease to be a member of said committee.  For the purposes of this chapter, notwithstanding the fact that ward lines in a city have been redistricted subsequent to a presidential primary, members of ward committees elected from wards in existence at the time of a presidential primary shall continue to represent said wards until their successors shall have been elected and organized under the redistricted ward lines at the presidential primary next following said redistricting.
MA Gen L ch 52 § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 52 - Political Committees|Section 3 - City Committees

Section 3. The members of the several ward committees of a political party in a city shall constitute the city committee.
MA Gen L ch 52 § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 52 - Political Committees|Section 4 - City, Ward and Town Committees; Organization; Failure to Elect or Organize

Section 4. Each city, ward and town committee shall within ten days after the thirtieth day next following the election of its members, meet and organize by the choice of a chairman, a secretary, a treasurer and such other officers as it may decide to elect; provided that members of said committee elected in nineteen hundred and seventy-six shall meet and organize within ten days after May fifteenth, nineteen hundred and seventy-six. At such meeting a ward or town committee may add to its elected members; provided, that by so doing the total number of members shall not be made to exceed the number determined under section nine. Ward and town committees may appoint associate members by vote at any meeting. Associate members shall not have the right to vote but shall have such other powers and duties as the ward or town committee may determine. In case there is a failure of election of a ward or town committee, the city committee or the state committee, respectively, of the political party which said ward or town committee represents shall appoint from among the voters qualified therefor the members of such committee and shall call a meeting for its organization, in such call appointing a time for holding the same and naming a person to preside thereat. If a ward committee or a city or town committee fails to meet within the time prescribed by this section and organize, the city committee or the state committee, respectively, of the political party which such ward, city or town committee represents shall call a meeting for its organization, in such call appointing a time for holding the same and naming a person to preside thereat. In the event that a ward or town committee fails to meet at the time appointed as aforesaid and organize, the election of each of its members shall be void and the same proceedings shall be had as is herein provided in the case of a failure of election.
MA Gen L ch 52 § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 52 - Political Committees|Section 5 - Lists of Officers, Members and Associate Members; Acceptance of Office of Treasurer; Filing

Section 5. The secretary of each city, ward and town committee shall, within ten days after its organization, file with the state secretary, with the city or town clerk and with the secretary of the state committee of the political party which it represents, a list of the officers and members of the committee, together with the addresses of such officers. In the case of a city, the secretary of each ward committee shall also file a copy of such list within such time with the chairman of the city committee of the political party which it represents. Within a like period after the appointment of associate members, said secretary shall likewise file a list of such associate members. The treasurer of such committee shall qualify for his office by filing a written acceptance thereof with the director of campaign and political finance, as provided in section five of chapter fifty-five. The secretary of such committee shall file with the director of the office of campaign and political finance a list of the officers of the committee, together with the addresses of such officers, within ten days after organization of such committee, or within ten days, of any change in the list of officers of such committee.
MA Gen L ch 52 § 6 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 52 - Political Committees|Section 6 - Vacancies

Section 6. A vacancy in the office of chairman, secretary or treasurer or in any other office, notice of the filling of which must be filed under the provisions of section five, of a city, ward or town committee or in the membership of a ward or town committee shall be filled by such committee from among the enrolled members of the party resident in such city, ward or town, and a statement of any such change shall be filed as in the case of the officers and members first chosen. If any member shall change his residence from the city, ward or town in which he was chosen to fill said vacancy, he shall cease to be a member at the end of the calendar year during which said residence is changed.
MA Gen L ch 52 § 7 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title VIII - Elections|Chapter 52 - Political Committees|Section 7 - Disposition of Funds Upon Redivision of City Into Wards

Section 7. Upon the redivision of a city into wards the treasurer of each ward committee of a ward affected by such redivision shall, before the termination of office of the members thereof, pay over to the treasurer of the city committee representing the same political party such funds of the ward committee as he has in his possession after paying all bills. In the statements required under section seventeen of chapter fifty-five, the treasurer of the ward committee making such payment shall report it as a disbursement and the treasurer of the city committee receiving it shall report it as a receipt.