Board of Registrars Meeting: October 6, 2025

Attendance

• Board Members present in person: Cynthia Morgan, Beth Hunter, Rebecca Kraemer and Alissa Horsung
• Commission Members remote: None
• Commission Members absent: None
• Public Participation in person/remote: None

Call to order

9:04 AM

Minutes

• The Board reviewed the minutes from November 15, 2024, January 28, 2025, March 20, 2025 and April 14, 2025.
• The Board voted unanimously to approve the November 14, 2024, January 28, 2025, March 20, 2025 and April 14, 2025 Board meeting minutes at 9:06AM.

Initiative Petitions

Overview and Deadlines

• Alissa stated that 40 Initiative petitions were filed with the Secretary of the Commonwealth (SOC).
• The SOC notified city and town clerks that Petition 1F is circulating because of a court order. Petition 1F is not required to be certified by the Board of Registrars until the petitioners have notified the Secretary of the Commonwealth (SOC) that they believe they have submitted enough raw signatures. The Board must still time-stamp the date of receipt of petition 1F.
• The deadline for initiative petition papers to be submitted to the Board of Registrars is November 19, 2025 at 5pm. The Town Clerk’s office will be open until 5pm to accept petition papers.
• The deadline for the Board of Registrars to complete certification of signatures on submitted petition papers is Monday, December 1, 2025 at 5pm.
• The Board decided to meet on November 24, 2025 at 9am to discuss petitions and certify any remaining papers that need to be certified after the November 19, 2025 deadline passed.

Receiving Petitions

• Alissa explained that Registrars must mark, in red ink, each petition page with the date and time the petition paper was received in the Registrar designated sections. Registrars must also mark a line through unused signature lines by drawing a large red “X” across all unused lines.
• Receipts must be issued for all initiative petitions received. A copy of the receipt should be given to the filer while the original is kept for records. The receipt must be presented when picking up the papers or a written authorization signed by or on printed letterhead of the campaign.

Certification process, requirements and standards

Certification Process

• Alissa explained the certification process to the Board. After certifying voters in the voter registration system, a check mark should be placed in the left column next to the names of certified voters. For those that can’t be certified, the applicable code listed on the petition paper must be placed in the left column next to their name, indicating the reason the name was disqualified. The certification box must be completed and signed by at least 3 registrars, whether handwritten or using facsimile stamps.

Certification Requirements and Standards

• On the Voter Registration Information System, the appropriate election type must be selected to verify signatures on a petition paper.
  • Petitions for a law would fall under the November 3, 2026 election.
  • Petitions for a constitutional amendment would fall under the November 7, 2028 election.
• The Board reviewed the checklist for certifying names on nomination papers and petitions as defined under 950 CMR § 55.00.

Questions

None.

Board of Registrars page on new town website

• The Board reviewed the Board of Registrars page on the new town website. All agreed to keep the page simple. Election results and election information would be kept as a subpage on the town clerk department page.

Census and Voter Registration Updates

• Alissa noted that the census should be processed sometime in December and the census could be discussed in more detail at an upcoming Board of Registrars meeting.

Meeting Adjourned

Meeting adjourned at approximately 9:49 AM.

Respectfully submitted,

Alissa Horsung, Town Clerk