H819 • 2025

An Act relative to random placement for candidate names and removal of incumbent information on primary and state ballots

Elections

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor: Mindy Domb
Last action: 2026-04-02
Official status: Accompanied a study order, see H5311 (under House Rule 27)
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

An Act relative to random placement for candidate names and removal of incumbent information on primary and state ballots

An Act relative to random placement for candidate names and removal of incumbent information on primary and state ballots By Representative Domb of Amherst, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.

What This Bill Does

An Act relative to random placement for candidate names and removal of incumbent information on primary and state ballots By Representative Domb of Amherst, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
819) of Mindy Domb relative to random placement of candidate names and removal of incumbent information on primary and state ballots.
Election Laws.

Limits and Unknowns

This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

2026-04-02 House
Accompanied a study order, see H5311 (under House Rule 27)
2025-06-10 Joint
Hearing scheduled for 06/17/2025 from 01:00 PM-05:00 PM in B-1
2025-02-27 House
Referred to the committee on Election Laws
2025-02-27 Senate
Senate concurred
House
Reported by committee to Clerk’s Office for processing, will accompany a study order

Official Summary Text

An Act relative to random placement for candidate names and removal of incumbent information on primary and state ballots
By Representative Domb of Amherst, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 819) of Mindy Domb relative to random placement of candidate names and removal of incumbent information on primary and state ballots. Election Laws.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

Bill H.819

SECTION 1. Section 34 of said chapter 53 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the second and third paragraphs.

SECTION 2. Section 70E of said chapter 53, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 32, the words “in the manner provided in section thirty-four”.

SECTION 3. Section 41 of chapter 54 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 16, the words “state or”.

SECTION 4. Section 42 of said chapter 54, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter or chapter 53, or any other general or special law to the contrary, on any ballot, under the designation of the office, the names of candidates for nomination for all offices to be voted for at a state primary, and names of candidates for election to any state office, shall be listed in an order generated at random by the state secretary; and no ballot shall include any notation or designation indicating that a candidate is

an incumbent or candidate for re-election.

SECTION 5. Sections 1 through 4, inclusive, shall take effect on January 1, 2026.

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