The Melrose Board of Registrars of Voters has issued an official certificate of results for two recently filed petitions. On Tuesday, May 3, 2022, two petitions were delivered to the Elections Office pursuant to Section 8-3 Citizen Referendum Procedures of the Melrose City Charter.

The two petitions protested recently passed measures of the School Committee: 1. (“Petition 1”) The vote to remove Red Raiders as a Moniker and 2. (“Petition 2”) The vote to adopt Red Hawks as moniker. The pages of both petitions were time-stamped and a receipt for both was issued.

As with any given petition, and pursuant to Melrose City Charter, the Melrose Board of Registrars of Voters then began the process to determine the number of voters who had signed each petition, and what percentage that number was of the total number of voters as of the date of the most recent City election – November 2, 2021.

As indicated by the City of Melrose Elections webpage, the total number of voters as of November 2, 2021, was 20,819, and each individual petition needed signatures of no less than 12% of the total number of voters as of November 2, 2021 (2,498).

The City of Melrose Board of Registrars of Voters certified the signatures for both petitions pursuant to procedures outlined in 950 CMR s. 55, on May 12, 2022. Petition 1 had 1,869 signatures (8.9% of the total number of voters as of the last election); Petition 2 had 1,771 signatures (8.51% of the total number of voters as of the last election).