29- 250 C.M.R. ch. 520, § 2

Current through 2024-51, December 18, 2024

Section 250-520-2 - Rejection of Comments

1. Not later than three (3) business days following the deadline for filing public comments, the Secretary of State shall review each submission and reject any public comments filed for publication in the Citizen's Guide that do not meet the requirements of Section 1 or that violate the provisions of Section 1.12 of these Rules. The Secretary of State shall notify the filer of the rejection in the following manner:

A. By telephone; or

B. If unable to contact the person by telephone, and if there is sufficient time prior to the publication of the Citizen's Guide, by certified mail immediately upon rejection.

2. The Secretary of State shall attempt to contact the person not later than the fifth business day following the deadline for filing public comments. Notification of a rejection shall identify the reason for rejection. A person contacted by the Secretary of State under this subsection may file a revised comment pursuant to paragraph 3 of this subsection not later than the seventh business day following the deadline for filing the public comments.

3. Any individual, corporation, political action committee or other organization notified by the Secretary of State of a rejection may revise the public comments only to the extent necessary to bring it into conformance. The revised public comments must meet the following requirements:

A. The revised public comments must be in compliance with all provisions of Section 1 of these Rules;

B. The revised public comments shall be returned to the Secretary of State, Elections Division by the deadline specified in these rules; and

C. The revised public comments shall be resubmitted in electronic format.

4. If the Secretary of State is unable to contact any person submitting public comments regarding the rejection or if the person fails to respond to the Secretary of State's notification, that person's comments will not be published in the Citizen's Guide.

5. The Secretary of State shall notify by mail any individual, corporation, political action committee or other organization whose comments were rejected due to the Secretary of State already receiving the maximum numbers of public comments allowed.

6. Upon final rejection of a filing, the Secretary of State will return the comment filer's payment for publication of the comments.

29- 250 C.M.R. ch. 520, § 2