Attention Republican Town & Ward Committees: Nomination Papers for the Presidential Primary Ballot are due Nov. 10th, 2024
All Republican Ward and Town committees need to fill out a nomination paper to be on the Presidential Primary ballot. This happens every 4 years. The nomination paper needs to be submitted to your town or city clerk by November 10th for the primary on Tuesday, March 5th, 2024. First, go to your Town or City Hall and pick up a couple of the nomination forms. Your Election Officials should have these forms because they were made available by the Secreatry of State on August 8th. If your municipality’s Clerk or Elections Official doesn’t have these forms, you may contact the Elections Division at 617-727-2828 to request nomination papers by mail.
Nominated members must have been registered as Republicans no later than August 23, 2023. The signers listed on the front of these forms become your Ward or Town Committee’s official “slate” of nominees. You must submit a slate of at least three eligible nominees.
The back of the nomination papers must be signed by at least five (5) registered Republicans or unenrolled voters in your Ward or Town. It's best to get 10 signatures to ensure enough signatures are accepted. The nominated members who are listed on the front of the nomination form can also sign the back of the form.
You can submit more than one nomination paper if you can’t arrange for all the nominees on the front of one form. The maximum number of names that can be elected to the ward or town committee is 35. You cannot submit duplicate nominees on different forms.
After the nomination papers are completed – legibly signed both front and back – then bring them to your Town clerk or City Hall elections office no later than Friday, November 10th, 2023, before 5:00 p.m.
If you don't get everybody you want as 2024-2028 members of your committee printed by name on the March 5th GOP Primary ballot, voters in the primary can write in the names and street addresses of other Republicans in your community not appearing on the ballot. But these "write-ins" will need at least five voters to write in their names and street addresses in order to get elected. Or, at the subsequent reorganization meeting your Ward and Town Committee can vote in additional members, up to your allotted membership limit.
The best reason for going through this process is so that your Committee doesn't lapse by operation of law after March 5, 2024. But if it does lapse, either your future State Committeeman or State Committeewoman (who will also be elected on March 5th) will then need to convene a new organization meeting.
The second-best reason to go through this process is to show all those pulling a Republican ballot in the Presidential Primary that there are Republicans in town, they are organized, and they are active. In this Commonwealth, Republicans often feel alone and isolated. You may be surprised how many will say, “I never knew there was an organization of Republicans in my community.”
Any Ward or Town Committee duly reconstituted by the nomination process must then meet between Thursday, April 4 and Sunday, April 14, 2024, to officially reorganize and elect officers! Your newly elected or reelected members must also notify the date and location of this reorganization meeting to whomsoever is elected as the State Committeeman or State Committeewoman in your State Senate District.
Read How to Run for Ward or Town Committee or call the Elections Division at the Massachusetts Secretary of State's office at 617-727-2828 for more information.
Click the following button to get more helpful information sent periodically to your email address.