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:

SECTION 1. Chapter two hundred and fifty-five of the acts of nineteen hundred and eighty-two is hereby repealed.

SECTION 2. Any holder of an elective office in the town of Hanson may be recalled and removed therefrom by the qualified voters of said town as herein provided.

SECTION 3. One hundred and fifty or more qualified voters may file with the town clerk an affidavit containing the name of the officer and the office held whose recall is sought and a statement of the grounds upon which the petition is based. A minimum of twenty-five qualified voters shall be from each precinct. Upon certification by the board of registrars of the required signatures, the town clerk shall thereupon deliver or make available to the designated person or persons seeking the recall, a sufficient number of petition blanks demanding such recall on 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 board of selectmen; shall contain the names of all persons to whom they are issued, the name of the person whose recall is sought, the office held by the person named, the grounds for recall as stated in the 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. The recall petition shall be returned and filed with the town clerk within twenty days following the date of issuance of said petitions. Said recall petitions shall be signed by at least ten per cent of the registered voters from each precinct in said town and to every signature shall be added the place of residence of the signer, giving the street and number. The town clerk shall within two working days of receipt, submit the petition to the registrars of voters who shall forthwith certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of voters of said town. No paper or documents of any kind shall be attached by the petitioners to any petition for recall, nor may any paper or document of any kind be solicited by the petitioners in such a way as to obscure any part of the petition for recall.

SECTION 4. 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 be removed does not resign within five days thereafter, thereupon order an election to be held within a reasonable length of time after a minimum of forty-five days from town clerk's certification of the sufficient petitions. If a vacancy occurs in said office after a recall election has been so ordered, the election shall nevertheless proceed as herein provided.

SECTION 5. 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 election, unless otherwise provided in this act.

SECTION 6. 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 eight. 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 7. Ballots used in a recall election in said town shall submit the following proposition in the order indicated:

For the recall of (name of officer)(office held).

Against the recall of (name of officer)(office held).

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 this case machine voting or punch card balloting, or other forms of balloting provision shall be made to allow the same intent of the voter.

SECTION 8. 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 9. 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.