Chap. 0537 An Act relative to state wide verification of voting lists.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section 1. Chapter four hundred and fifty of the acts of nineteen hundred and thirty-nine is hereby amended by striking out section one and inserting in place thereof the following: - Section 1. The registrars of voters or officers under special laws performing like duties in each city and town, in this act called registrars, shall, between June first in the year nineteen hundred and forty-five and December thirty-first in the year nineteen hundred and forty-six, verify the voting lists and certify them as required by section three of this act, and for this purpose may appoint such temporary assistant registrars as may be necessary.

Section 2. Said chapter four hundred and fifty is hereby further amended by striking out section two and inserting in place thereof the following: - Section 2. The state secretary shall, on or after June first in the year nineteen hundred and forty-five, at the expense of the commonwealth, furnish to the registrars of each city and town such filing or other equipment and such number of registration forms or cards, hereinafter called cards, as may be necessary to carry out this act. Such cards shall be known as registration record cards and shall be of such size and form as the state secretary may determine, and shall have printed thereon the schedule as provided for the general register under section thirty-six of chapter fifty-one of the General Laws, together with the following:

Sex.

The city or town where last previously registered, if any.

Date of birth.

Height.

Such cards containing all facts required by the foregoing shall be signed by each voter whose name appears on any nineteen hundred and forty-seven voting list and by each applicant for registration on or after December first in the year nineteen hundred and forty-five. Such cards shall be used at polling places for the purpose of identification of voters after January first, nineteen hundred and forty-seven. The signature on such card of the applicant for registration or the voter shall be made, under the penalties of perjury, in the presence of a registrar, or assistant registrar, who shall affix his name thereto.

Section 3. Said chapter four hundred and fifty is hereby further amended by striking out section three and inserting in place thereof the following: - Section 3. Upon the completion of the verification of the voting list, but in no event later than December thirty-first in the year nineteen-hundred and forty-six, the registrars shall file with the mayor in cities or the selectmen in towns, as the case may be, the following certificate: -

We, the registrars of voters or election commissioners of the city (or town) of do hereby certify that we

have verified the list of registered voters in the city (or town), as required by chapter four hundred and fifty of the. acts of nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, as amended, as of November first, nineteen hundred and forty-six.

Section 4. Section four of said chapter four hundred and fifty is hereby amended by striking out, in the second line, the word "forty-four" and inserting in place thereof the word: - forty-seven, - so as to read as follows: - Section 4-On January first, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, the registrars shall revise the general register and the annual register compiled under section thirty-seven of chapter fifty-one of the General Laws as affected by this act and strike therefrom the names of all persons who have not signed the registration record cards as provided in this act; provided, that there shall not be stricken from said registers the name of any person unless such person shall, not less than thirty days prior to such action, have been notified by the registrars by mail of his failure to sign the registration record card and informed of the procedure to be followed in order to have his name retained on said registers, nor unless such person shall have been given a reasonable opportunity to follow said procedure. Approved June 12, 1943.