Part the Second.
The Frame of Government

Article III.

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Article LXIV of the Amendments to the Constitution is hereby amended by striking out section 1 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 1. The governor, lieutenant-governor, councillors, secretary, treasurer and receiver-general, attorney-general, auditor, senators and representatives shall be elected biennially. The terms of the governor, lieutenant-governor and councillors shall begin at noon on the Thursday next following the first Wednesday in January succeeding their election and shall end at noon on the Thursday next following the first Wednesday in January in the third year following their election. If the governor elect shall have died before the qualification of the lieutenant-governor elect, the lieutenant-governor elect upon qualification shall become governor. If both the governor elect and the lieutenant-governor elect shall have died both said offices shall be deemed to be vacant and the provisions of Article LV of the Amendments to the Constitution shall apply. The terms of senators and representatives shall begin with the first Wednesday in January succeeding their election and shall extend to the first Wednesday in January in the third year following their election and until their successors are chosen and qualified. The terms of the secretary, treasurer and receiver-general, attorney-general and auditor, shall begin with the third Wednesday in January succeeding their election and shall extend to the third Wednesday in January in the third year following their election and until their successors are chosen and qualified.

This item is based on 8 items:

1788 — Part the Second. Article II

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1788 — Part the Second. Article II

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1788 — Part the Second. Article III

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1788 — Part the Second. Article I

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1840 — Article XIII

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1855 — Article XV

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1855 — Article XVII

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1918 — Article LXIV

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Article XLV of the articles of amendment is hereby annulled and the following is adopted in place thereof:--

Article XLV. The general court shall have power to provide by law for voting, in the choice of any officer to be elected or upon any question submitted at an election, by qualified voters of the commonwealth who, at the time of such an election, are absent from the city or town of which they are inhabitants or are unable by reason of physical disability to cast their votes in person at the polling places.

This item is based on 10 items:

1788 — Part the First. Article IX

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1788 — Part the Second. Article IV

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1788 — Part the Second. Article II

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1788 — Part the Second. Article IV

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1788 — Part the Second. Article III

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1821 — Article III

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1857 — Article XX

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1885 — Article XXIX

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1890 — Article XXX

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1917 — Article XLV

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Section 1. The governor, lieutenant-governor, councillors, secretary, treasurer and receiver-general, attorney-general, auditor, senators and representatives, shall be elected biennially. The governor, lieutenant-governor and councillors shall hold their respective offices from the first Wednesday in January succeeding their election to and including the first Wednesday in January in the third year following their election and until their successors are chosen and qualified. The terms of senators and representatives shall begin with the first Wednesday in January succeeding their election and shall extend to the first Wednesday in January in the third year following their election and until their successors are chosen and qualified. The terms of the secretary, treasurer and receiver-general, attorney-general and auditor, shall begin with the third Wednesday in January succeeding their election and shall extend to the third Wednesday in January in the third year following their election and until their successors are chosen and qualified.

Section 2. No person shall be eligible to election to the office of treasurer and receiver-general for more than three successive terms.

Section 3. The general court shall assemble every year on the first Wednesday in January.

Section 4. The first election to which this article shall apply shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in the year nineteen hundred and twenty, and thereafter elections for the choice of all the officers before-mentioned shall be held biennially on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November.

This item is based on 12 items:

1788 — Part the Second. Article IV

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1788 — Part the Second. Article I

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1788 — Part the Second. Article II

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1788 — Part the Second. Article III

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1788 — Part the Second. Article I

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1788 — Part the Second. Article V

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1788 — Part the Second. Article III

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1788 — Part the Second. Article IX

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1788 — Part the Second. Article II

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1788 — Part the Second. Article I

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1840 — Article XIII

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1855 — Article XVII

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4 items are based on this item:

1938 — Article LXXII

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1944 — Article LXXV

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1950 — Article LXXX

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1964 — Article LXXXII

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Those persons who shall be qualified to vote for senators and representatives within the several towns of this commonwealth, shall, at a meeting to be called for that purpose, on the first Monday of April annually, give in their votes for a governor, to the selectmen, who shall preside at such meetings; and the town clerk, in the presence and with the assistance of the selectmen, shall, in open town meeting, sort and count the votes, and form a list of the persons voted for, with the number of votes for each person against his name; and shall make a fair record of the same in the town books, and a public declaration thereof in the said meeting; and shall, in the presence of the inhabitants, seal up copies of the said list, attested by him and the selectmen, and transmit the same to the sheriff of the county thirty days at least before the last Wednesday in May; and the sheriff shall transmit the same to the secretary's office, seventeen days at least before the said last Wednesday in May; or the selectmen may cause returns of the same to be made to the office of the secretary of the commonwealth, seventeen days at least before the said day; and the secretary shall lay the same before the senate and the house of representatives, on the last Wednesday in May, to be by them examined: and in case of an election by a majority of all the votes returned, the choice shall be by them declared and published. But if no person shall have a majority of votes, the house of representatives shall, by ballot, elect two out of four persons who had the highest number of votes, if so many shall have been voted for, but, if otherwise, out of the number voted for; and make return to the senate of the two persons so elected; on which the senate shall proceed, by ballot, to elect one, who shall be declared governor.

3 items are based on this item:

1918 — Article LXIV

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1944 — Article LXXVI

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1950 — Article LXXX

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