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. Any person who holds an elective office in the town of Yarmouth may be recalled therefrom by the registered voters of the town in the manner provided herein.

SECTION 2. Any one hundred qualified voters of the town 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 within five working days shall thereupon deliver to the voters making such affidavit a sufficient number of copies of petition blanks demanding such recall. Said 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 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 office from which recall is sought, 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 the town clerk within fifty days after the filing of the affidavit.

Said petition before being returned and filed shall have been signed by twenty-five percent of the qualified voters as of the most recent town election and to every signature shall be added the place of residence of the signer, giving the street and number, if any.

The town clerk shall within one working day following the day of such filing submit the petition to the registrars of voters and the registrars shall forthwith certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of registered voters as of the date of the most recent town election.

SECTION 3. If the petition shall be found and certified by the town clerk to be sufficient, he shall submit it with his certification to the selectmen without delay. The board of selectmen shall forthwith give written notice of the receipt of the certificate to the officer sought to be recalled. If the officer does not resign within five days thereafter, the board of selectmen shall order a recall election to be held on a date fixed by them not less than sixty nor more than ninety days after the date of the town clerk's certificate that a sufficient petition has been filed; provided, however, that if any other town election is scheduled to be held within one hundred days after the date of the certificate, the board of selectmen may, at their discretion, postpone the holding of the recall election to the date of such other election. If a vacancy occurs in said office after a recall election has been ordered by the board of selectmen the election shall nevertheless proceed as provided in this section.

SECTION 4. Any officer whose recall is sought may be a candidate to succeed himself, and unless he requests otherwise in writing, the town clerk shall place his name on the 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 General Laws relating to elections unless otherwise provided by this act.

SECTION 5. The incumbent shall continue to perform the duties of his office until the recall election. If he is not recalled, he shall continue in office for the remainder of his unexpired term, subject to recall as before, except as provided in section seven.

If the officer is recalled, he shall be deemed removed upon the qualification of his successor, who shall serve for the balance of the unexpired term of the officer removed. 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 shall state the following propositions in the order indicated:

For the recall of (name of officer)

Against the recall of (name of officer)

Adjacent to each proposition there shall be a place to vote for either of the said propositions. After the propositions shall appear the word "Candidates", the directions to voters required by section forty-two of chapter fifty-four of the General Laws and beneath this the names of candidates nominated as hereinbefore provided. If the official who is subject of the recall petition is a candidate, his name shall be the first listed; all others shall be listed alphabetically. If a majority of the votes cast upon the question of recall is in the affirmative, the officer shall be deemed to be recalled and the candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected. If a majority of the votes on the question is in the negative, the ballots for candidates need not be counted.

SECTION 7. No recall petition shall be filed against an officer 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 or who has resigned from an office while recall proceedings were pending against him shall be appointed to any town office within one year after such recall or resignation.