Current through Register 1537, December 20, 2024
(1)
Application. 950
CMR 54.07 applies wherever punch-card ballots are used. As used in 950 CMR
54.07 "computer" means any device for counting or tabulating punch-card
ballots.
(2)
Establishment of Tabulation Center. The city or town
clerk must designate a central tabulation center, or must designate all the
polling places as tabulation centers, not later than one week before the date
of the election. The center must have a barrier of some sort to enclose the
counting area so that no unauthorized persons may touch any election materials
or be in the counting area at any time.
(3)
Personnel. The
center shall be staffed by a warden, a clerk, and as many inspectors as the
city or town clerk determines to be necessary. The warden is the presiding
officer at the tabulation center, but the city or town clerk is the presiding
officer at a central tabulation center. The presiding officer shall assign
election officers any duties that will assure compliance with this chapter. The
warden and clerk must be from different political parties and the inspectors
equally divided among the two leading political parties. All tabulation center
personnel must be adequately trained in advance in the use of equipment which
they will operate.
(4)
Observers. The chairman of each city or town political
committee may appoint in writing a computer expert to observe the proceedings
at the tabulation center. The general public must be allowed to observe all
proceedings at the tabulation center, but election officers may establish a
guard rail or similar device to separate observers from the election officers,
ballots, and counting equipment. If there are so many observers that they
obstruct the proceedings, election officers may take appropriate steps to
ensure cooperation in observing and collecting information.
(5)
Transportation to Central
Tabulation Center.
(a) If a
central tabulation center is within the city or town, the container shall
immediately be transported to the tabulation center accompanied by the precinct
warden, the precinct clerk, and a police officer, who shall exercise constant
control and supervision over the locked metal carrying case.
(b) If a central tabulation center is outside
the city or town, the locked metal carrying case shall instead first be
similarly transported to the office of the city or town clerk and all metal
carrying case shall be transported together to the tabulation center in
vehicles designated by the city or town clerk and owned by the city or town.
Each presiding officer shall transfer possession of the key to his carrying
case to the city or town clerk. The carrying cases shall be loaded in full
public view and unloaded in the presence of the election officers at the
tabulation center. The vehicle transporting the carrying cases outside the city
or town shall be accompanied at all times by the city or town clerk or his
designee, and the carrying cases shall not be opened at any time before they
arrive at the tabulation center.
(6)
Tabulation by
Computer.
(a) At the tabulation
center, each precinct shall be tabulated separately. An inspection team shall
examine the punch-card ballots and remove those which cannot be tabulated by
the computer and which were not already removed. The inspection team shall also
riffle the cards to remove any loose or hanging chads.
(b) The cards that are to be tabulated by
computer shall be checked by the inspection team to make certain they are in
proper condition to be counted.
(c)
In the case of a primary, the inspection team must make certain that there is
one group of cards for each party, and they shall check the cards in each group
to make sure all cards in the group are of the same poltical party.
(d) If any ballot cards are rejected by the
computer, they shall be counted manually.
(e) After the computer completes the printout
of the votes, the tabulation center warden and clerk shall sign the computer
printout, but in primaries, sign each of the party computer printouts, and take
the computer printout to the tally station.
(f) Where the ballot cards are fed into a
computer one-by-one by hand, the ballot cards shall be separated into
convenient blocks, and one election officer shall feed the cards into the
computer while the other watches the tape. A stacker tray must be used to
receive ballots counted by the computer.
(7)
Counting by
Hand.
(a) The election officers
shall place all rejected cards, whether removed by the inspection team or
rejected by the computer, in a plainly marked envelope along with the damaged
cards and the write-in over-voted cards and envelopes, separated previously. At
primaries, these rejected, damaged and write-in over-voted cards should be put
in separate envelopes for each party.
(b) The envelope shall then be taken to a
tally station which is staffed by election officers equally representing the
two leading political parties. The officers must manually count any rejected,
damaged, and write-in over-voted cards, except for the over-voted office, that
have not been counted at the polling place, and record the results on a block
tally sheet headed "Rejected Cards". At a primary, each party must be counted
separately.
(c) When the rejected,
damaged and write-in over-voted card count is completed and the votes totaled,
the totals from the tally sheets shall be entered on the precinct total tally
sheet. (d) The rejected, damaged and write-in over-voted cards shall then be
put into an envelope, appropriately marked, and placed in a metal carrying case
for delivery to the city or town clerk. At a primary, separate envelopes must
be used for each party.
(8)
Tallying and Announcing
Result.
(a) The sheet showing
the result, as printed by the computer, shall be fastened to the precinct total
tally sheet for transmission to the city or town clerk. Each precinct total
tally sheet shall show:
1. the total number of
names checked on the voting lists,
2. the total number of ballots
cast,
3. the names of all persons
voted for,
4. the number of votes
for each person and the title of the office for which he was a
candidate,
5. the number of blank
ballots for each office, and, including an allocation of blanks corresponding
to any punch cards improperly not cast by voters,
6. the number of yes and no votes in answer
to any question to voters.
The electronic machine record, the totals of write-in votes,
and the totals of rejected, damaged, and write-in over-voted ballots shall then
be signed by the warden and clerk. The presiding officer at the tabulation
center, or whatever election officer he designates, shall then publicly and in
the presence of the other election officers distinctly announce the number of
votes cast for each candidate for each office and the number of yes and no
votes cast on any question. At a central tabulation center, this announcement
shall be made for each precinct as soon as the precinct record has been
completed.
(b)
The warden and clerk shall then sign the precinct total tally sheet, any block
or total tally sheet, and the computer printout. They shall then place these
items in a separate marked envelope which is then signed by the warden.
(8A)
Reporting Results to Central Reporting Service. The
clerk may report by telephone the results of final precinct tallies for any
presidential preference primary, state primary or general election to a central
media reporting service in consideration for a contribution, in an amount
approved by the state secretary, to the respective state-wide municipal clerks
association to be used for continuing education programs for municipal
clerks.
(9)
Sealing and
Transmitting Materials.
(a) All
official election materials, except tally sheets and voting list envelopes and
keys, shall be placed into the precinct's metal container as a part of the
election record. The warden shall then lock the metal carrying case.
(b) The warden shall give the metal carrying
case, an envelope containing the tally sheets, an envelope containing the
voting lists used at the election, and the keys to the city or town
clerk.