PUBLICATION OF LISTS OF CANDIDATES. SEC. 12. The city clerk shall, not later than the fifteenth day before every city election, certify the list of candidates, with their residences, whose names are entitled to appear on the ballot, as being the list of candidates nominated as required by this act, together with the offices for which they are respectively candidates at such election, designating whether such election is for a full or for an unexpired term; and he shall file in his office said certified list of names and offices, and he shall cause to be published before such election, in two successive issues of at least (here insert number) newspapers of general circulation published in the city of or in any different or additional manner that may be provided by ordinance, an election notice which shall contain said certified list of names of candidates and offices to be filled, and the time and the places of holding such election. Provision may also be made by ordinance for supplying the voters with information regarding the qualifications of such candidates for the offices for which they are, respectively, nominated. PREPARATION OF BALLOTS. SEC. 13. The city clerk shall cause ballots for each general and special municipal election to be prepared, printed, and authenticated as provided by the constitution and laws of the Commonwealth, except as is otherwise required by this act. The ballots shall contain the full list and correct names of all the offices to be filled and the names and residences of all the candidates nominated, respectively, therefor. FORM OF BALLOT AND METHOD OF VOTING. SEC. 14. Except that the crosses here shown shall be omitted, and that in place of the names and offices here shown shall be substituted the names and residences of the actual candidates and the offices for which they are, respectively, nominated, the ballots shall be in substantially the following form: (Inserting date thereof.) General (or special) municipal election, city of Instructions. To vote for any person make a cross (X) in the square in the appropriate column according to your choice at the right of the name voted for. Vote your first choice in the first column; vote your second choice in the second column; vote in the third column for all the other candidates whom you wish to support; vote only one first choice and only one second choice for any one office. Do not vote more than one choice for one person, as only one choice will count for any one candidate by this ballot. SEC. 15. One space shall be left below the printed names of the candidates for each office to be voted for, wherein the voter may write the name and residence of any person for whom he may wish to vote. PARTY DESIGNATIONS Excluded frOM BALLOT.* SEC. 16. The names and residences of candidates for the same office shall be printed on the ballot in the order in which they may be drawn by the city clerk, 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. Nothing on the ballot shall be indicative of the source of the candidacy or of the support of any candidate. No ballot 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 indicating his views or opinions. There shall also appear on the ballot all questions required by law, or by this act, to be submitted to a vote of the qualified voters of the city. DISTRIBUTION OF SAMPLE BALLOTS. SEC. 17. The city clerk shall, at least ten days before the election, cause to be printed a sufficient number of sample ballots, upon paper of different color, but otherwise identical with the ballot to be used at the election and until other provision for their distribution is made by ordinance, shall mail a copy of the same to each registered voter qualified to vote thereon. CANVASS OF RETURNS AND DETERMINATION OF RESULTS OF ELECTION. SEC. 18. As soon as the polls are closed, the precinct officers shall immediately open the ballot boxes, take therefrom and count the ballots in public view, and enter the total number thereof on the tally sheet provided therefor by the city clerk. They shall also count and enter on said tally sheet the number of the first-choice, secondchoice and other-choice votes for each candidate and make return thereof to the city clerk as provided by law. Only one vote shall be counted for any candidate on any one ballot, all but the highest of two or more choices on one ballot for one and the same candidate being void. For use in primaries or elsewhere where party designations are retained this section and others would of course be modified accordingly. If two and not more choices for any one office are voted in the first-choice column on any one ballot, they shall both be counted as second choices, and all other choices voted on that ballot for that office shall be counted as other choices. If three or more choices for any one office are voted in the first-choice column on any one ballot, all choices voted on that ballot for that office shall be counted as other choices. If two or more choices for any one office are voted in the second-choice column on any one ballot, they shall be counted as other choices. Except as herein before provided, all choices shall be counted and returned as marked on the ballot. The city clerk shall then determine the successful candidates as hereinafter provided in this section. The candidate for any office receiving a majority, as hereinafter in this section defined, of the first-choice votes cast for candidates for that office shall be elected to that office: Provided, That if no candidate shall receive such a majority, then the second-choice votes received by each candidate for that office shall be added to the first-choice votes received by each such candidate, and the candidate receiving the largest number of said first-choice and second-choice votes combined, if such votes constitute a majority, shall be elected to that office; And provided further, That if no candidate shall have a majority after adding the first-choice and second-choice votes, then the other choice votes received by each candidate shall be added to the firstchoice and the second-choice votes received by each such candidate, and the candidate having the largest number of first-choice, second-choice and other-choice votes combined shall be elected to that office. A tie between two or more candidates shall be decided in favor of the one having the largest number of first-choice votes. If two or more are equal in that respect, then the candidate among them having the largest number of second-choice votes shall be elected. If this will not decide, then the result shall be determined by lot under the direction of the city clerk. Whenever the word "majority” is used in this section it shall mean more than onehalf of the total number of first-choice votes cast at such election and counted and returned as herein before provided in this section for candidates for the office in question.* QUALIFIED VOTER DEFINED. SEC. 19. The term "qualified voter," wherever it occurs in this act, means a voter qualified by law to vote for candidates for the office named in the petition of nomination or acceptance of nomination in which their names occur, except that witnesses may be residents of any part of the city. If more than one official is to be chosen from a group, "majority" should be defined, as in Nashua, as more than half the total number of valid ballots on which at least one first choice for the office in question is marked and returned; or less accurately, as more than one-half the total number of ballots cast at the election. Either safeguards the majority interest suitably, but the latter might sometimes bring the second or other choices into account as a result of counting nonparticipants in the election for that office, which is hardly logical. |