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Office of the Secretary, Boston, Jan. 21, 1892. 

 To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives. 



The second annual report of the number of assessed polls 

 and the number of registered voters at the close of the state, 

 city and town elections in the year 1891, and the total num- 

 ber of persons who voted at such elections in each city, town 

 and voting precinct in the Commonwealth is hereby sub- 

 mitted, in accordance with the provisions of section 118, 

 chapter 423, acts of 1890. 



By an act of 1891 (chapter 329, section 4) the secretary 

 of the Commonwealth is required to include in this report a 

 concise statement of other matters relating to elections, with 

 such suggestions thereon as may be deemed advisable. In 

 compliance with this act, I submit the following : — 



Suggestions from City and Town Officers. 



Soon after the last state election, a circular letter was sent to 

 the selectmen of towns and the city and town clerks, request- 

 ing them to communicate to this office any suggestions that 

 they might desire to make in the direction of improving the 

 methods and apparatus in use at elections under our present 

 ballot system. Over one hundred replies were received 

 from towns and six from cities. General complaint was 

 made of the defective working of the registers on the ballot- 

 boxes. Investigation shows, however, that the fault was 

 not so much with the registers as with the operators of the 

 boxes, who failed to observe the printed directions which 

 were forwarded to each city and town. Up to the present 

 time it has been impossible to procure ballot-boxes which 

 can be relied upon to register correctly the number of ballots 

 cast, and as the names of voters are required to be checked 

 twice before voting, and as the number of ballots cast must 

 agree with the number of names checked, regardless of the 



