Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. The second paragraph of section 9-1 of Article 9 of the charter of the city of Attleboro, which is on file in the office of the archivist of the commonwealth, as provided in section 12 of chapter 43B of the General Laws, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 1, the words "fourth Tuesday" and inserting in place thereof the following words:- third Tuesday of September.

SECTION 2. Section 9-3 of said Article 9 of said charter is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

(f) Candidates Nominated for Multiple Offices. A candidate who has filed nomination papers for multiple offices must withdraw his name from nomination for all but 1 office on or before the last day provided by law for withdrawal of candidates. Any candidate for office who does not comply with said withdrawal procedure shall not have his or her name printed upon the ballot for any office.

SECTION 3. The state secretary shall cause the following 2 questions to be placed on the official ballot to be used in the city of Attleboro at the biennial state election to be held in the year 2002:

(1) "Shall section 1 of an act passed by the general court in the year 2002 entitled 'An Act relative to the charter of the city of Attleboro which provides that preliminary elections be held on the third Tuesday of September preceding the regular city election' be accepted?";

(2) "Shall section 2 of An Act passed by the general court in the year 2002 entitled 'An Act relative to the charter of the city of Attleboro which provides that candidates nominated for multiple office withdraw for all but 1' be accepted?".

If a majority of the votes cast in answer to either of the questions is in the affirmative then the section shall take effect, but not otherwise.

SECTION 4. The city solicitor shall prepare a fair, concise summary and purpose of the law to appear with the question no later than 60 days prior to the election in accordance with section 58A of chapter 54 of the General Laws.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage.