Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
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SECTION 1. Any holder of an elective office in the town of Eastham may be recalled, and removed therefrom by the qualified voters of said town as herein provided.

SECTION 2. Any qualified voter of the town of Eastham may file with the town clerk of said town an affidavit containing the name of the officer sought to be recalled and a statement of the grounds of recall. Said town clerk shall thereupon deliver to the voter making such affidavit a sufficient number of copies of petition blanks demanding such recall, printed forms of which he shall keep on hand. The blanks shall be issued by the town clerk with his signature and official seal attached thereto; they shall be dated and addressed to the selectmen of said town, shall contain the name of the person to whom issued, the number of blanks so issued, the name of the person sought to be recalled, the grounds of recall as stated in said affidavit, and shall demand the election of a successor to such office. A copy of the petition shall be entered in a record book to be kept in the office of the town clerk. Said recall petition shall be returned and filed with said town clerk within twenty days after the filing of the affidavit. Said petition before being returned and filed shall be signed by twenty per cent of the qualified voters in said town, and to every signature shall be added the place of residence of the signer, giving the street and number. The said recall petition shall be submitted, at or before five o'clock in the afternoon of the Monday preceding the day on which it must be filed, to the registrars of voters in said town, and the registrars shall forthwith certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of voters in said town.

SECTION 3. If the petition shall be found and certified by said town clerk to be sufficient, he shall submit the same with his certificate to said selectmen without delay and said selectmen shall forthwith give written notice to said officer of the receipt of said certificate and shall, if the officer sought to removed does not resign within five days thereafter, thereupon order an election to be held on a date fixed by them not less than seventy days after the date of the town clerk's certification that a sufficient petition is filed; provided, however, that if any other town election is to occur within sixty days after the date of said certificate, said selectmen may, in their discretion, postpone the holding of said recall election to the date of such other election. If a vacancy occurs in said office after a recall election has been so ordered, the election shall nevertheless proceed as in this section provided.

SECTION 4. Any officer sought to be recalled may be a candidate to succeed himself, and, unless he requests otherwise in writing, said town clerk shall place his name on the official ballot without nomination. The nomination of other candidates, the publication of the warrant for the recall election, and the conduct of the same, shall all be in accordance with the provisions of law relating to elections, unless otherwise provided in this act. A majority of those voting at the recall election shall be sufficient to recall such elected officer.

SECTION 5. The incumbent shall continue to perform the duties of his office until the recall election. If then re-elected, he shall continue in office for the remainder of his unexpired term, subject to recall as before, except as provided in section seven. If not re-elected in the recall election, he shall be deemed removed upon the qualification of his successor, who shall hold office during the unexpired term. If the successor fails to qualify within five days after receiving notification of his election, the incumbent shall thereupon be deemed removed and the office vacant.

SECTION 6. Ballots used in a recall election in said town shall submit the following propositions in the order indicated:

For the recall of (name of officer).

Against the recall of (name of officer).

Immediately at the right of each proposition there shall be a square in which the voter by making a cross mark (X) may vote for either of such propositions. Under the proposition shall appear the word "Candidates" and the direction "Vote for One" and beneath this the names of candidates nominated as hereinbefore provided. In case of machine voting, or punch card balloting, or other forms of balloting, appropriate provision shall be made to allow the same intent of the voter.

If a majority of the votes cast on the recall question is in the affirmative, then the candidate that received the highest number of votes in the special election to fill the vacancy shall be elected. If a majority of the votes on the question is in the negative, the ballots for candidates to fill the potential vacancy need not be counted, or take any action relative thereto.

SECTION 7. No recall petition shall be filed against an officer of said town within six months after he takes office, nor in the case of an officer subjected to a recall election and not removed thereby, until at least six months after that election.

SECTION 8. No person who has been recalled from an office in said town, or who has resigned from office while recall proceedings were pending against him, shall be appointed to any town office within two years after such removal by recall or resignation.