How to Pull Nomination Papers for Local Elections
Getting Your Name on the Ballot
To have your name appear on the ballot, you must be over 18 years, a registered voter in Pembroke and file nomination papers with the Town Clerk’s office. Nomination papers are made available on January 1st. You must amass 50 signatures from Pembroke registered voters, to be verified by the Board of Registrars. Your signatures must be submitted by the deadline; this date will vary year to year but will be available prior to nomination papers being obtained (MGL 53, Sec7). We recommend gathering more than 50 signatures as a safety measure.
Campaign Finance Filings and Requirements
Once your nomination has been accepted, there are several campaign finance forms that will need to be filled out. All candidates should visit https://ocpf.us/Filers/GettingStarted and complete the 5 steps required under “Local Offices”.
All candidates for Town-wide elected office, as well as all those currently serving, must file campaign finance forms with the Town Clerk's office eight (8) days before a local election, thirty (30) days after a local election and a year-end report due January 20th.
ALL CANDIDATES MUST FILE M101 AND M102 FORMS.
Running a Write-In Campaign
If you didn’t file nomination papers in time, there’s always the opportunity to run a write-in or sticker campaign. The guidelines from the Secretary of State’s office can be found at https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/elections/getting-on-the-ballot/how-to-run-as-a-write-in-candidate.htm. When running any kind of write-in campaign, it's very important to tell your supporters to fill in the oval next to the "write-in" line under the correct office to make sure the optical scanner reads the vote first. At the end of the voting hours, the election workers review every ballot to attribute the write-ins and stickers voted without the ovals but it's best to have the ballot recognized by the voting machine as well.
Requesting Voters Lists
The Clerk’s office has lists of voter lists of previous federal, state and local elections. If you or your campaign would like a list of voters, please email amcettrick@townofpembrokemass.org.
Campaign Activity
- No state, county, city or town employee employed for compensation, other than an elected official, may directly or indirectly solicit or receive any contribution or anything of value for any political purpose.
- Public employees may not be treasurers of political committees.
- If a person is both a public employee and an elected official, the prohibitions against soliciting or receiving political contributions would still apply to him or her.
- No person may solicit or receive campaign contributions in a building occupied for any state, county or municipal purpose.
- No person in the public service may be compelled to make a political contribution or to render any political service, and no public official or employee may be prejudiced in his or her employment for failure to make a political contribution or be rewarded for making a political contribution.
- A political committee may not solicit or receive a contribution on behalf of a candidate who is public employee if the contributor has an interest in any particular matter in which the employee participates or which is the subject of his or her official responsibility.
- No public resource may be expended or utilized in order to promote or oppose the nomination or election of any candidate to public office or to promote or oppose any ballot question placed before the voters. Examples of public resources include: paid staff time of public employees, office equipment, vehicles, buildings and supplies.
- On Election Day, certain electioneering activities are prohibited within 150 feet of the entrance to a polling place (MGL Ch. 54, Section 65).