Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 950 CMR - OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH › Title 950 CMR 57.00 - VOTER REGISTRATION › Section 57.02 - General Provisions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Definitions
. Terms used in
			 950 CMR
			 57.00 shall have the meanings provided in M.G.L. c.
			 50, § 1. In addition:
Acknowledgment Notice
means a written
				notice required by M.G.L. c. 51, § 42H, sent by a registrar to a
				registrant notifying the registrant of the disposition of the affidavit of
				voter registration.
Active Voter
means a voter whose name
				and address are in the current annual register of voters.
Agency Form
means an affidavit of
				voter registration that is completed at a registration agency. Such form is
				designed to provide the applicant with a copy thereof at the time of
				registration at a registration agency.
Applicant
means an individual, either
				a registrant or pre-registrant, who has completed an affidavit of voter
				registration or who has not opted out of Automatic Voter Registration.
Automatic Voter Registration (AVR)
means a process by which necessary information of an applicant who does not opt
				out at an Automatic Voter Registration Agency is transmitted by the AVR Agency
				for the purpose of voter registration.
Automatic Voter Registration Health Agency (AVR
				Health Agency)
means the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector
				Authority and the Office of Medicaid in the Executive Office of Health and
				Human Services.
Automatic Voter Registration Registry of Motor
				Vehicle Agency (AVR RMV Agency)
means the Registry of Motor
				Vehicles.
Confirmation Notice
means a notice,
				required by M.G.L. c. 51, § 37, sent by forwardable mail to a voter who is
				believed to have changed their residence to another city or town, by the
				registrars, which is:
(a) postage
			 prepaid;
(b) contains a postage
			 prepaid and preaddressed return card;
(c) instructs the voter to return the card if
			 they did not change their residence from the city or town; and
(d) contains additional information about
			 remaining eligible to vote.
Inactive Voter
means a voter whose
				name and address have not been entered in the annual register of voters but is
				maintained on an inactive voters list.
Mail-in Agency Form
means an affidavit
				of voter registration that may be completed outside of a voter registration
				agency, contains the voter registration agency's code and is considered to have
				originated at an agency.
Mail-in Form
means an affidavit of
				voter registration that may be completed outside of a voter registration
				agency.
Mail-in Form
includes mail-in agency forms and
				online mail-in forms.
Online Mail-in Form
means an affidavit
				of voter registration that may be completed as a result of a voter registration
				transaction that could not be completed and submitted through the online
				application.
Pre-register
means the registration
				process by which an applicant who has reached 16 years of age and who possesses
				all the qualifications to be registered as a voter, except that of age, may
				complete a voter registration application to be qualified to vote upon reaching
				18 years old on or before the next election or conduct Automatic Voter
				Registration at an AVR Agency.
Pre-registrant
means an applicant who
				is 16 years of age or older and has pre-registered to vote, but will not be
				eligible to vote until the election after which they turn 18 years of
				age.
Registrant
means a person applying to
				register as a voter in Massachusetts or a registered voter who is submitting an
				application to make changes to their voter registration.
Registration Agency
means a location
				where eligible citizens may register or pre-register as voters including city
				or town clerk's offices, military recruitment offices, offices of the Registry,
				all state agencies that provide public assistance or assistance to people with
				disabilities, offices that provide state-funded programs primarily engaged in
				providing services to people with disabilities and any other office which the
				Secretary shall designate by regulation.
(a) Other offices designated as Registration
			 Agencies shall include Armed Services Recruitment Centers; the Elections
			 Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth; the Southeastern
			 Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Western of
			 the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
(b) State Agencies that Provide Public
			 Assistance shall include those agencies that administer or provide services
			 under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, Women,
			 Infants, & Children (WIC), Emergency Aid to Elderly, Disabled and Children
			 (EAEDC), the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) programs, and the
			 Health Care Connector.
(c) State
			 Agencies that Provide Assistance to People with Disabilities shall include: the
			 Commission for the Blind; the Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing; the
			 Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission; the Department of Mental Health; the
			 Department of Developmental Services; and offices that primarily provide
			 disability services at public institutions of higher education.
Registry
means the Massachusetts
				Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Secretary
means the Secretary of the
				Commonwealth of Massachusetts.