Massachusetts. Elections Division

The Elections Division within the state secretary's office is responsible for coordinating all municipal, state, and federal elections within the Commonwealth. While there is no special legislation that authorized the organization of these duties under a division, its existence is derived from provisions of MGLA c 9, s 2, which enable the state secretary to "employ such clerical assistance as he may deem necessary to carry out the laws relative to primaries and elections." These provisions first became law in 1911, when the secretary was authorized to employ "temporary" clerical assistance for elections (St 1911, c 550, s 19). In 1913 the word "temporary" was removed (St 1913, c 835, s 127). However, until 1948 only one permanent clerk was allowed for this purpose under the budget. In that year, three permanent positions were funded (St 1948, c 198, item 0504-01) and a supervisor of the Division of Elections named. Since the 1960s such personnel have commonly been designated as the Elections (or Election) Division.

Notwithstanding the relatively recent specific existence of an Elections Division, the state secretary's involvement in elections is grounded in the Massachusetts Constitution, which calls for town officials to transmit voting returns for statewide offices to the secretary's office (Const Pt 2, C 1, S 2 and Pt 2, C 2, SS 1-2)

Subsequent legislation expanded the secretary's constitutional role in elections by broadening the scope of elections in which that official could play a part to include those at the national and county levels (St 1788, c 49; St 1856, c 173) and by increasing the secretary's involvement in the conduct of elections. Responsibilities accumulated by the secretary over the years include the following: ensuring that returns are received in envelopes with their seals unbroken until their delivery to the governor or General Court (St 1806, c 26, augmented by St 1852, c 209, s 2, which authorized the secretary to refuse returns with broken seals); furnishing city and town clerks with self-sealing envelopes of uniform appearance to be used to make returns for all state and national elections (St 1851, c 226); furnishing city, town, and county officials with blanks for voting returns (St 1857, c 311); furnishing cities and towns with books to be used for registering voters (St 1877, c 208); providing cities and towns with ballot boxes (St 1884, c 299, s 10); preparing and transmitting to cities and town instructions for voters, including printed copies of proposed constitutional amendments and referendum questions (St 1888, c 436); and publishing election results in a public document, PD 43 (St 1890, c 423, s 118)

In sum, the state secretary's responsibilities as carried on by the Elections Division include verifying and printing nomination papers used by candidates; producing ballots; approving voting machines; registering and verifying Electoral College members and recording and printing proceedings of the Electoral College; providing information on running for elective office, absentee voting, voter registration, and general information for voters; and administering election procedures as required by law. For further detail consult MGLA c 50, c 51, c 52, c 54, c 55, c 55A, c 56, and c 59.

NAME AUTHORITY NOTE. Series relating to the agency described above can be found by searching the following access point for the time period stated: 1948-present--Massachusetts. Elections Division.