The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Elections Division
One Ashburton Place, 17th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2828
NOTICE OF OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC REVIEW AND COMMENT
The Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth is soliciting public comment concerning the date of
the Massachusetts State Primaries in 2018.
The provisions of section 28 of chapter 53 of the General Laws, as amended by section 65 of chapter
46 of the Acts of 2015, state:
[i] if a religious holiday falls on or immediately before the second Tuesday in September (September
11, 2018) in an even-numbered year, the state primary shall be held on a date set by the state of
secretary within 7 days of the second Tuesday in September.
In 2018, Rosh Hashanah begins on September 9th and ends on September 11th, creating the need to
change the primary date to a date within 7 days of September 11th.
The Secretary welcomes public comments on the new date for the 2018 State Primaries. Comments may
be made in person or in writing. In person comments may be made at an open public session to be
held on Tuesday, January 2, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. in the 17th floor conference room of the Office of
the Secretary, One Ashburton Place, Boston, Massachusetts 02108. Also, written comments will be
accepted until 2:00 p.m. on January 2, 2018. Written submissions should be delivered to Michelle
K. Tassinari, Director/Legal Counsel, Elections Division, Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth
One Ashburton Place, Room 1705, Boston, MA 02108 or via email to:Michelle.Tassinari@sec.state.ma.us.
