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SECT. 54.* If a candidate nominated as aforesaid dies before the day of election, or withdraws his name from nomination, or is found to be ineligible, the vacancy may be filled by a committee of not less than five persons, or a majority thereof, if such committee be named, and so authorized in the nomination papers. Nomination papers shall not include candidates for more than one office except that not more than three or nine, as the case may be, candidates for city council may be included in one nomination paper, and not more than two candidates for school committee may be included in one nomination paper. Every voter may sign as many nomination papers for each office to be filled as there are persons to be elected thereto and no more. Nomination papers in each year shall be issued by the board of election commissioners on and after but not before the day next following the state election.

SECT. 55.** Women who are qualified to vote for a member of the school committee may be nominated as and sign nomination papers for candidates for that office in the manner and under the same provisions of law as men.

SECT. 56. The names of candidates appearing on nomination papers shall when filed be a matter of public record; but the nomination papers shall not be open to public inspection until after certification. After such nomination papers have been filed, the election commissioners shall certify thereon the number of signatures which are the names of registered voters in the city qualified to sign the same. They need not certify a greater number of names than are required to make a nomination, with one-fifth† of such number added thereto. All such papers found not to contain a number of names so certified equivalent to the number required to make a nomination shall be invalid. The election commissioners shall complete such certification on or before five o'clock P.M. on the sixteenth ‡ day preceding the city election. Such certification shall not preclude any voter from filing objections as to the validity of the nomination. All withdrawals and objections to such nominations shall be filed with the election commissioners on or before five o'clock P.M. on the fourteenth § day preceding the city election. All substitutions to fill vacancies caused by withdrawal or ineligibility shall be filed with the election commissioners on or before five o'clock P.M. on the twelfth day preceding the city election.

SECT. 57. The name of each person who is nominated in compliance with law, together with his residence and the title and term of the office

*Sect. 54 amended by Chap. 730, § 5, Acts of 1914, so as to limit the number of nomination papers issued to any candidate for mayor to 300, and to any candidate for city council or school committee to 200. † Changed to one-tenth by Chap. 730.

Changed to fifteenth.

§ Changed to thirteenth.

Sect. 54 again amended (by Chap. 340, Acts of 1921) so as to fix the time for issuing municipal nomination papers on and after the Wednesday following the first Monday in November.

** Sect. 55, amended by Chap. 65, Acts of 1921, leaving women voters as unrestricted as men voters.

for which he is a candidate shall be printed on the official ballots at the municipal election, and the names of no other candidates shall be printed thereon. The names of candidates for the same office shall be printed upon the official ballot in the order in which they may be drawn by the board of election commissioners, whose duty it shall be to make such drawing and to give each candidate an opportunity to be present thereat personally or by one representative.

SECT. 58. No ballots used at any annual or special municipal election shall have printed thereon any party or political designation or mark, and there shall not be appended to the name of any candidate any such party or political designation or mark, or anything showing how he was nominated or indicating his views or opinions.

SECT. 59. On ballots to be used at annual or special municipal elections blank spaces shall be left at the end of each list of candidates for the different offices, equal to the number to be elected thereto, in which the voter may insert the name of any person not printed on the ballot for whom he desires to vote for such office.

SECT. 60. All laws not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, governing nomination papers and nominations for, and elections of municipal officers in the city of Boston, shall so far as they may be applicable, govern the nomination papers, nominations and elections provided for in this act. The board of election commissioners shall be subject to the same penalties and shall have the same powers and duties, where not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, in relation to nomination papers, preparing and printing ballots, preparing for and conducting elections and counting, tabulating and determining the votes cast under the provisions of this act, as they have now in relation to municipal elections in said city.

SECT. 61. The provisions of this act shall apply to any special municipal election held after the year nineteen hundred and nine in the city of Boston, except that nomination papers for offices to be filled at such elections shall be issued by the election commissioners on and after the day following the calling of said special election. Every special municipal election shall be held on a Tuesday not less than sixty days nor more than ninety days after the date of the order calling such special election. SECT. 62. All acts and parts of acts so far as inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed; all ordinances and parts of ordinances so far as inconsistent with this act are hereby annulled; and all acts and parts of acts affecting the city of Boston not inconsistent with the provisions of this act are continued in force: provided, however, that the provisions of chapter four hundred and forty of the acts of the year nineteen hundred and nine shall not apply to any election held hereunder prior to the first day of April in the year nineteen hundred and ten.

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NOTE.-Section 63 (the final section) omitted, as it merely states when

the different sections went into effect.

AMENDMENTS OF CITY CHARTER IN 1924.

[ACTS OF 1924, CHAPTER 479.]

PROVIDING FOR BIENNIAL ELECTIONS IN THE CITY OF BOSTON AND FOR BOROUGH OR WARD REPRESENTATION IN THE CITY COUNCIL THEREOF, AND MAKING CERTAIN OTHER CHANGES IN AND ADDITIONS TO THE CHARTER OF SAID CITY.

SECTION 1. The terms of office of the mayor of the city of Boston, of members of the city council and school committee of said city which would expire under existing law on the first Monday of February, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, and of members of the city council and school committee of said city which would expire under existing law on the first Monday of February, nineteen hundred and twenty-seven, shall terminate at ten o'clock in the forenoon on the first Monday of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-six. There shall be no municipal election in said city in the year nineteen hundred and twenty-four, and the terms of office of members of the city council and school committee of said city which would expire under existing law on the first Monday of February, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, are hereby extended to ten o'clock in the forenoon on the first Monday of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-six. The salary of any official whose term of office is terminated as aforesaid shall cease at the time of such termination and the salary of any official whose term of office is extended as aforesaid shall continue at the same rate as theretofore so long as he continues to serve during the period of such extension.

SECTION 2. Section three of chapter four hundred and eighty-six of the acts of nineteen hundred and nine is hereby amended by striking out, in the twenty-fifth line, the words "December first" and inserting in place thereof the words: November fifteenth, and by striking out, in the twenty-sixth line, the word "February" and inserting in place thereof the word:— January,—- so that the second paragraph will read as follows:- The city auditor may, with the approval in each instance of the mayor, at any time make transfers from the appropriation for current expenses of one division of a department to the appropriation for current expenses of any other division of the same department, and from the reserve fund to any appropriation for the current expenses of a department; and may also, with the approval of the mayor, at any time between November fifteenth and January first, make transfers from any appropriation to any other appropriation: provided however, that no money raised by loan shall be transferred to any appropriation from income or taxes. He may also with such approval apply any of the income and taxes not disposed of in closing the accounts for the financial year in such manner as he may determine.

SECTION 3. Said chapter four hundred and eighty-six is hereby further amended by inserting after section four the following new section:Section 4 A. The mayor may designate one clerical assistant for whose acts he shall be responsible to sign his name in approval of all vouchers of less than five hundred dollars each.

SECTION 4. Said chapter four hundred and eighty-six, as amended in section thirty-two by section one of chapter seven hundred and thirty of the acts of nineteen hundred and fourteen and by section one of chapter two hundred and eighty-eight of the acts of nineteen hundred and twentyone, is hereby further amended by striking out said section thirty-two and inserting in place thereof the following:- Section 32. Beginning in the year nineteen hundred and twenty-five, the municipal election in said city shall take place biennially in every odd numbered year on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

SECTION 5. Said chapter four hundred and eighty-six is hereby further amended by striking out section thirty-three and inserting in place thereof the following:- Section 33. The fiscal year in said city shall begin on January first and shall end on December thirty-first next following; and the municipal year shall begin on the first Monday in January and shall continue until the first Monday of the January next following. At the biennial municipal election in the year nineteen hundred and twenty-five, the five members of the school committee shall be elected. The two candidates receiving the largest number of votes at said election shall hold office for four years, and the three receiving the next largest number of votes at said election, for two years. At every biennial municipal election thereafter, all members of the school committee to be elected shall be chosen for terms of four years each. The terms of all members of the school committee shall begin with the first Monday of January following their election and continue until their successors are chosen and qualified. The members of the school committee shall meet and organize on the first Monday of January following their election.

SECTION 6. Said chapter four hundred and eighty-six, as amended in section forty-five by section one of chapter ninety-four of the Special Acts of nineteen hundred and eighteen, is hereby further amended by striking out said section forty-five and inserting in place thereof the following:- Section 45. Beginning with the biennial municipal election in the year nineteen hundred and twenty-five, the mayor of the city of Boston shall be elected at large to hold office for the term of four years from the first Monday in January following his election and until his successor is chosen and qualified and shall not be eligible for election for the succeeding term.

SECTION 7. Section forty-seven of said chapter four hundred and eighty-six, as amended by section three of chapter seven hundred and thirty of the acts of nineteen hundred and fourteen, is hereby further amended by striking out the first two sentences and inserting in place thereof the following:- If a vacancy occurs in the office of mayor, within two months prior to a regular municipal election other than an election

for mayor, or within sixteen months after any regular municipal election the city council shall forthwith order a special election of mayor to serve for the unexpired term, and if such vacancy occurs at any other time there shall be an election for mayor at the next regular municipal election for the term of four years; provided, that the foregoing provisions shall not apply if such vacancy occurs between the date of an election at which a new mayor is elected and the date he takes office, so as to read as follows:- Section 47. If a vacancy occurs in the office of mayor within two months prior to a regular municipal election other than an election for mayor, or within sixteen months after any regular municipal election, the city council shall forthwith order a special election of mayor to serve for the unexpired term, and if such vacancy occurs at any other time there shall be an election for mayor at the next regular municipal election for the term of four years; provided, that the foregoing provisions shall not apply if such vacancy occurs between the date of an election at which a new mayor is elected and the date he takes office. In the case of the decease, inability, absence or resignation of the mayor, and whenever there is a vacancy in the office from any cause, the president of the city council while said cause continues or until a mayor is elected shall perform the duties of mayor. If he is also absent or unable from any cause to perform such duties they shall be performed until the mayor or president of the city council returns or is able to attend to said duties by such member of the city council as that body may elect, and until such election by the city clerk. The person upon whom such duties shall devolve shall be called "acting mayor" and he shall possess the powers of mayor only in matters not admitting of delay, but shall have no power to make permanent appointments except on the decease of the

mayor.

SECTION 8. At the biennial state election in nineteen hundred and twenty-four, the registered voters of the city of Boston shall be entitled to vote upon the following plans of city council, which shall be printed upon the official ballot in the following form. Each voter shall make a cross in the space at the right of the plan which he desires to have adopted. No ballot shall be counted upon which the voter has made a cross in each such space.

Plan No. 1. A city council of fifteen members to consist of three members to be elected for two-year terms by and from the voters of each of five boroughs (each comprising certain specified wards), at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars each, nominated as heretofore, except that the names of five hundred voters only shall be required to nominate each member.

Plan No. 2. A city council to consist of one member to be elected for a two-year term by and from the voters of each ward at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars each, nominated as heretofore, except

that the names of one hundred voters only shall be required

to nominate each member.

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