Chap. 0346 An Act relative to political committees and caucuses of political parties.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:
Section 1. Section eighty-two of chapter five hundred and forty-eight of the acts of the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight is hereby amended by striking out the whole of said section and inserting in place thereof the following: - Section 82. Each political party shall, in every ward and town, annually elect a committee to be called a ward or a town committee, to consist of not less than three persons, who shall hold office for one year from the first day of January next following their election and until their successors shall have organized.
The members of the several ward committees of a political party in a city shall constitute a committee to be called a city committee.
Each town committee shall annually, between the first day of January and the first day of March, and each ward and city committee shall, within thirty days from the beginning of its term of office, meet and organize by the choice of a chairman, a secretary and a treasurer, and such other officers as it may decide to elect.
The secretary of each city and town committee shall, within ten days after its organization, file with the secretary of the Commonwealth, with the city or town clerk, and with the secretary of the state committee of the political party which it represents, a list of the officers and members of the committee.
A vacancy in the office of chairman, secretary or treas-
urer of a city, ward or town committee shall be filled by the committee, and a vacancy in the membership of a town or ward committee shall be filled by such committee, and a statement of any such change shall be filed as in the case of the officers first chosen.
The term of office of members of all ward committees existing at the date when this act takes effect shall expire on the thirty-first day of December in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-nine.
Section 2. Section eighty-seven of said chapter is hereby amended by inserting after the word "may", in the thirteenth line, the words : - except in Boston, - also by inserting after the word "which", in the twenty-fourth line, the words : - except in Boston,-so as to read as follows: - Section 87. All caucuses of political parties (except for special elections) for choice of delegates to political conventions which nominate candidates to be voted for at the annual state election, and for the nomination of candidates to be voted for at such election, shall be held throughout the Commonwealth on one of two consecutive days, designated by the state committee of the political party for which said caucuses are held; and all of said delegates shall be elected and all of said candidates shall be nominated at one caucus, except that caucuses held for choice of delegates to a representative district convention, or for nomination of candidates for the general court, may, except in Boston, be called aud held as hereinafter provided. Such caucuses shall be held at the call of the state committee of the political party whose caucuses are to be held, and the chairman and secretary of the state committee of each political party shall at least twenty-one days before the date on which the caucuses are to be held forward a copy of the call, with designations of dates to the chairman and secretary of each city and town committee of their party, and they shall at the same time designate two other consecutive days, which shall be at least seven days later than the designation above provided, as dates on which, except in Boston, caucuses may be held for choice of delegates to a representative district convention, or for nomination of candidates for the general court. Each city or town committee shall determine on which one of said two dates such representative caucuses shall be held in their city or town.
No representative conventions shall be held at a date earlier than fifteen days after the latest date designated
by the state committee for holding caucuses for the choice of delegates to the state convention.
Section 3. Section one hundred and two of said chapter is hereby amended by striking out the whole of said section and inserting in place thereof the following:- Section 102. All such caucuses of a political party for the choice of a political committee in cities, for the choice of candidates for a city or town election, and for the choice of delegates to a convention to nominate candidates for such election, except caucuses relating to a special election, shall be held on the same day in each city and town. The city or town committee shall fix the days for holding all caucuses mentioned in this section, and all calls for the same shall be issued by its chairman and secretary.
No two political parties shall hold their caucuses on the same day. The party first filing a copy of the call for a caucus with the city or town clerk, or in Boston with the board of election commissioners, shall be entitled to precedence as to the day so fixed.
Section 4.   This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved May 8, 1899.