(a) 
Composition - The board of election commissioners shall consist of four persons, of whom two shall always represent each one of the two leading political parties, as defined in section one of chapter fifty of the General Laws.
(b) 
Appointment, Term of Office - The city manager, subject to approval by the city council, shall appoint the members of the board of election commissioners for terms of four years each, so arranged that one such term of office shall expire on April first of each year. Every such appointment shall be made from a list to be submitted by the city committee of the political party from the members of which the position is to be filled, containing the names of three enrolled members of such party resident in the city, selected by a majority vote at a duly called meeting at which a quorum is present, of such committee; provided, however, if the chair of the city committee has not submitted such a list to the city manager within forty five days after a notification to the said chair by certified mail, the city manager shall make such appointment without reference to such a list. Members shall serve until the qualification of their successor. In case of a vacancy it shall be filled in the same manner as aforesaid, except it shall be for the balance of the unexpired term.
(c) 
Organization - The board of election commissioners shall organize annually in the month of April by choosing a chair and a secretary. In case the members are unable to agree upon a chair and a secretary, such officers shall be designated by the city manager. The secretary shall keep a full and accurate record of the proceedings of the board and shall perform such other duties as the board may require.
(d) 
Powers and Duties - All the powers, rights, privileges, liabilities and duties relating to caucuses, primaries, preliminary elections and elections by law vested in and imposed upon mayors, managers, boards of aldermen, selectmen, city or town clerks and board of registrars of voters, except the power and duty of giving notice of elections and fixing the days and hours of holding the same shall be vested in and performed by the board of election commissioners. The board may appoint such assistant commissioners and such assistants as it deems necessary, who shall at all times equally represent the two leading political parties as defined aforesaid. Said assistant commissioners shall have such powers and perform such duties as are prescribed by general law for assistant registrars of voters, and shall perform such other duties as the board may require. Persons appointed to serve temporarily as assistant commissioners shall not be subject to chapter 31 of the General Laws. The board shall have such other powers and duties as may be provided to such boards of election commissioners under section sixteen A of chapter fifty-one of the General Laws, or otherwise.
(e) 
Compensation - The members of the board of election commissioners shall receive such compensation for their services as the city manager and city council may from time to time determine.
The regular general city election shall be held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November in each odd numbered year.
On the seventh Tuesday preceding every regular general city election there shall be a preliminary election for the purpose of nominating candidates.
All elections for city offices shall be non-partisan and election ballots shall be printed without any party mark, emblem, or other designation whatsoever.
(a) 
Signature Requirements - The number of signatures of voters required to place the name of a candidate on the official ballot to be used at a preliminary election shall be as follows: for the office of council president and member of the school committee, councilor-at-large, school committee member, or library trustee, not less than one-hundred such signatures, not more than fifty of which shall be from any one district; for the office of district councilor not less than one hundred such signatures from the district from which the nomination is sought.
(b) 
Ballot Position - The order in which names of candidates appear on the ballot for each office shall be determined by a drawing, by lot, conducted by the board of election commissioners, which shall be open to the public.
(c) 
Determination of Candidates - The two persons receiving at a preliminary election the highest number of votes for nomination for any office shall be the sole candidates for that office whose names shall be printed on the official ballots to be used at the regular general city election at which such office is to be voted upon, and no acceptance of a nomination shall be necessary to its validity. If two or more persons are to be elected to the same office at such regular election, the several persons, in number equal to twice the number so to be elected, receiving at such preliminary election the highest number of votes for nomination for that office shall be the sole candidates for that office whose names shall be printed on the official ballots. If the preliminary election results in a tie vote among candidates for nomination receiving the lowest number of votes which, but for said tie vote, would entitle a person receiving the same to have his or her name printed on the official ballots for the election, all candidates participating in said tie vote shall have their names printed on the official ballots, although in consequence thereof there be printed on such ballots the names of candidates exceeding twice the number to be elected.
(d) 
Condition Making Preliminary Unnecessary - If at the expiration of time for filing statements of candidates to be voted upon at any preliminary election not more than twice as many such statements have been filed with the election commission for an office as candidates are to be elected to such office, the candidates whose statements have been filed with the election commission shall be deemed to have been nominated to such office, and their names shall be voted upon for such office at the succeeding general election, and the board of election commissioners shall not print their names on the ballots to be used at said preliminary election and no other nomination to such office shall be made. If in consequence it shall appear that no names are to be printed upon the official ballots to be used in any particular district or districts of the city, no preliminary election shall be held in such district or districts.
The territory of the city shall be divided into four districts so established as to consist of compact and contiguous territory, bounded insofar as possible by the center line of known streets or ways or by other well defined limits. Each such district shall be composed of voting precincts otherwise established in accordance with general laws.[1] The city council shall from time to time review such districts to insure their uniformity in number of inhabitants.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Precinct Map is included as an attachment to this Charter.
Except as expressly provided in this charter and authorized by law, all city elections shall be governed by the laws of the commonwealth relating to the right to vote, the registration of voters, the nomination of candidates, the conduct of preliminary, general and special elections, the submission of charters, charter amendments and other propositions to the voters, the counting of votes, the recounting of votes, and the determination of results.
The city council or the school committee shall hold a public hearing and act with respect to every citizen petition which is addressed to it, which petition shall not be required to take any particular form, and is signed by one-hundred-fifty voters, or more, and which seeks the passage of a measure concerning matters other than action under section 7-11(c). The hearing shall be held by the city council or the school committee, and the action by the city council or the school committee shall be taken not later than three months after the petition is filed with the clerk of the council or the secretary of the school committee, as may be appropriate. Hearings on two or more petitions filed under this section may be held at the same time and place. The clerk of the council or the secretary of the school committee shall mail notice of the hearing to the ten persons whose names appear first on the petition at least forty-eight hours before the hearing. Notice, by publication, of all such hearings shall be at public expense.
(a) 
Commencement - Initiative procedures shall be started by the filing of an initiative petition with the clerk of the council or the secretary of the school committee, as the case may be. The petition shall be addressed to the city council or to the school committee, shall contain a request for the passage of a particular measure, which shall be set forth in full in the petition, and shall be signed by at least ten percent of the total number of voters as of the date of the most recent city election. Signatures to an initiative petition need not all be on one paper, but all such papers pertaining to any one measure shall be fastened together and shall be filed as a single instrument, with the endorsement thereon of the name and residence address of the person designated as filing the same. With each signature on the petition there shall also appear the street and number of the residence of each signer.
Within ten days following the filing of the petition the board of election commissioners shall ascertain by what number of voters the petition has been signed, and what percentage that number is of the total number of voters as of the date of the most recent city election. The board of election commissioners shall attach its' certificate to the petition to the clerk of the council or the secretary of the school committee according to how the petition is addressed. A copy of the certificate shall also be mailed to the person designated upon such petition as having filed the same.
(b) 
Referral to City Attorney - If the board of election commissioners determines that a petition has been signed by a sufficient number of voters, the clerk of the council or the secretary of the school committee, as the case may be, shall forthwith following receipt of such certificate deliver a copy of the petition to the city attorney. Within fifteen days following the date a copy of the petition is delivered to the city attorney, the city attorney shall, in writing, advise the city council or the school committee, as may be appropriate, whether the measure as proposed may lawfully be proposed by the initiative process and whether, in its present form, it may be lawfully adopted by the city council or by the school committee. If the opinion of the city attorney is that the measure is not in proper form, the city attorney shall state the reasons in full in the reply. A copy of the opinion of the city attorney shall also be mailed to the person designated on the petition as having filed the same.
(c) 
Action on Petitions - Within thirty days following the date a petition has been returned to the clerk of the council or to the secretary of the school committee by the city attorney, and after publication in accordance with the provisions of section 2-8(c), the city council or the school committee shall act with respect to each initiative petition by passing it without change, by passing a measure which is stated to be in lieu of an initiative measure, or by rejecting it. The passage of a measure which is in lieu of the initiative measure shall be deemed to be a rejection of the initiative measure. If, at the expiration of the said thirty days the city council or the school committee has not voted on such petition, no other business of said council or committee shall be in order or lawfully acted upon until a vote to approve of the measure, to disapprove of the measure, or to adopt some other measure in lieu thereof, has been taken.
(d) 
Supplementary Petitions - Within forty-five days following the date an initiative petition has been rejected, a supplemental initiative petition may be filed with the clerk of the council or the secretary of the school committee. The supplemental initiative petition shall be signed by a number of additional voters which is equal to five percent of the total number of voters as of the date of the most recent city election. If the number of signatures to such supplemental petition is found to be sufficient by the board of election commissioners, the city council shall call a special election to be held on a date fixed by it not less than thirty nor more than forty-five days following the date of the certificate of the board of election commissioners that a sufficient number of voters have signed the supplemental initiative petition, and shall submit the proposed measure, without alteration, to the voters for determination; provided, however, if any other city election is to be held within one-hundred-twenty days following the date of the said certificate, the city council may omit the calling of such special election and cause said question to appear on the election ballot at such approaching election for determination by the voters.
(e) 
Publication - The full text of any initiative measure which is submitted to the voters shall be published in a local newspaper not less than seven nor more than fourteen days preceding the date of the election at which such question is to be voted upon. Additional copies of the full text shall be available for distribution to the public in the office of the board of election commissioners.
(f) 
Form of Question - The ballots used when voting on a measure proposed by the voters under this section shall contain a question in substantially the following form:
Shall the following measure which was proposed by voters in an initiative petition take effect?
(Here insert the full text of the proposed measure, or a fair, concise summary, as determined and prepared by the city attorney, in consultation with the city clerk.)
YES _____
NO _____
(g) 
Time of Taking Effect - If a majority of the votes cast on the question is in the affirmative, the measure shall be deemed to be effective forthwith, unless a later date is specified in such measure; provided, however, that no such measure shall be deemed to be adopted if fewer than twenty percent of the total number of voters of the city, as of the date of the most recent city election, participate at such election.
(a) 
Petition, Effect on Final Vote - If, within twenty days following the date on which the city council or the school committee has voted finally to approve of any measure, a petition signed by a number of voters equal to fifteen percent of the total number of voters as of the date of the most recent city election and addressed to the city council or to the school committee, as the case may be, against the measure or any part thereof is filed with the secretary of the school committee or clerk of the council, the effective date of such measure shall be temporarily suspended. The school committee or the city council shall forthwith reconsider its vote on such measure or part thereof, and, if such measure is not rescinded the city council shall provide for the submission of the question for a determination by the voters either at a special election which it may call at its convenience, or within such time as may be requested by the school committee, or at the next regular city election, but pending such submission and determination the effect of such measure shall continue to be suspended.
(b) 
Certain Initiative Provisions to Apply - The petition described in this section shall be termed a referendum petition and insofar as applicable, Section 7-9 (a), (b) and (e) shall apply to such referendum petitions, except that the words "measure or part thereof protested against" shall be deemed to replace the word "measure" in said sections wherever it may occur and the word "referendum" shall be deemed to replace the word "initiative" wherever it may occur in said sections.
Form of Question - The question that shall appear on the ballot shall take the following form:
Shall the following measure enacted by the Town Council take effect?
(Here insert the full text of the proposed measure, or a fair, concise summary of the measure, as determined and prepared by the city attorney in consultation with the city clerk)
YES _____
NO _____
None of the following shall be subject to the initiative or the referendum procedures: (1) proceedings relating to the internal organization or operation of the city council or of the school committee, (2) an emergency measure adopted in conformity with the charter, (3) the city budget or the school committee budget as a whole, (4) revenue loan orders, (5) any appropriation for the payment of the city's debt or debt service, (6) an appropriation of funds to implement a collective bargaining agreement, (7) proceedings relating to the election, appointment, removal, discharge, employment, promotion, transfer, demotion, or other personnel action, (8) any proceedings repealing or rescinding a measure or part thereof which is protested by referendum procedures, and (9) any proceedings providing for the submission or referral of any measure to the voters at an election.
The city council may of its own motion, and shall, at the request of the school committee, if a measure originates with that body and pertains to affairs under its jurisdiction, submit to the voters at any regular city election for adoption or rejection any measure in the same manner and with the same force and effect as are hereby provided for submission by petitions of voters.
If two or more measures passed at the same election contain conflicting provisions, only the one receiving the greatest number of affirmative votes shall take effect.