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. Section 3.1 of the charter of the town of Acushnet which is on file in the office of the archivist of the commonwealth, as provided in section twelve of chapter forty-three B of the General Laws, is hereby amended by adding the following subsection:-

3.1.5 Recall of Elected Officials.

(a) Application - Any person who holds an elected town office, with more than six months remaining of the term of the office, may be recalled from the office, by the voters, in the manner provided in this section.

(b) Recall Petitions - Twenty-five or more voters may file with the town clerk an affidavit containing the name of the officer whose recall is sought and a statement of the grounds upon which the petition is based. The town clerk shall deliver to the said voters petition blanks demanding said recall, printed forms of which he shall keep available. The blanks may be completed by writing or typewriting; they shall be addressed to the board of selectmen; they shall contain the names of the persons who filed the affidavit and the grounds for recall as stated in the affidavit; they shall demand a successor to the office; and they shall be dated and signed by the town clerk. A copy of the petition shall be kept on file in the office of the town clerk in a record book maintained for that purpose. The recall petition shall be returned and filed in the office of the town clerk within fourteen days following the date the petitions were issued, signed by at least ten percent of the total number of registered voters duly recorded on the registration list of the town clerk as of the preceding town election.

The town clerk shall, within twenty-five hours following such filing, submit said petitions to the registrars of voters who shall forthwith certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of voters.

(c) Recall Election - If the petition shall be certified by the registrars of voters to be sufficient, the town clerk shall forthwith submit the same to the board of selectmen. Upon its receipt of the certified petition, the board of selectmen shall forthwith give written notice of said petition and certificate to the person whose recall is sought. If said officer does not resign his office within five days following the delivery of the said notice, the board of selectmen shall order an election to be held not less than sixty-five nor more than ninety days after the date of the registrars' certificate of the sufficiency of the petition. If however another town election is to occur within ninety days after the date of the said certificate, the board of selectmen shall hold the recall election on the date of said other town election. If a vacancy occurs in the office after a recall election has been ordered, the election shall nevertheless proceed as provided in this section, but only the ballots for candidates need be counted.

(d) Nomination of Candidates - An officer whose recall is sought may not be a candidate to succeed himself at the recall election, and the conduct of the same shall all be in accordance with the provisions of other laws relating to elections, unless otherwise provided in this section.

(e) Propositions on Ballot - Ballots used at 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" and the name of candidates arranged alphabetically, by surname. If a majority of the votes cast upon the question of recall is in the affirmative, and if at least twenty percent of the total number of registered voters duly recorded on the registration list of the town clerk as of the preceding town election casts ballots at said special election, 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, except as provided in paragraph (c).

(f) Officeholder - The incumbent shall continue to perform the duties of his office until the recall election. If he is not recalled in the election he shall continue in office for the remainder of his unexpired term, subject to recall as before, except as provided in this section.

(g) Repeat of Recall Petition - No recall petition shall be filed against an officer within three months after he takes office, or in the case of an officer subjected to a recall election and not recalled thereby, until at least six months after the election at which his recall was submitted to the voters.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage.