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 holder of an elected office in the town of Orange may be recalled therefrom by the registered voters of the town as herein provided, except the maximum numbers of members of a board that may be recalled is a majority.

SECTION 2. Any twenty-five registered voters of the town may initiate a recall petition by filing with the town clerk an affidavit containing the name of the officer sought to be recalled and a statement of the grounds for such recall. The town clerk shall thereupon deliver to said voters making the affidavit copies of petition blanks demanding such recall, copies of which printed forms the town clerk shall keep available. Such blanks shall be issued by the town clerk, with the town clerk's signature and official seal attached thereto. They shall be dated, shall be addressed to the selectmen and shall contain the names of all persons to whom they are issued, the name of the person whose recall is sought, the grounds for such recall as stated in the affidavit, and shall demand the election of a successor to said 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 thirty days after the filing of the affidavit, and shall have been signed by at least ten percent of the registered voters of the town, who shall add to their signatures, the street and number, if any, of their residences. The town clerk, shall within forty-eight hours of receipt, submit the petition to the registrars of voters in the town, and said registrars shall, within five working days, certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of registered voters of the town.

SECTION 3. If the petition shall be found and certified by the town clerk to be sufficient, he shall submit the same with his certificate to the selectmen without delay and the selectmen shall, within five working days, give written notice of the receipt of the certificate to the officer sought to be recalled and shall, if the officer does not resign within five days thereafter, order an election to be held on a date fixed by them not less than sixty and not more than ninety days after the date of the town clerk's certificate that a sufficient petition was filed; provided, however, that if any other town election is to occur within ninety days after the date of the certificate, the selectmen shall postpone the holding of the recall election to the date of such other election.

No person shall be subject to recall if the elected official's term of office expires within ninety days of the certificate. If a vacancy occurs in said office after a recall election has been ordered, the election shall nevertheless proceed as provided in this section.

SECTION 4. Any officer sought to be removed may be a candidate to succeed oneself, 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 removal election, and the conduct of the same, shall be in accordance with the provisions of law relating to elections unless otherwise provided herein.

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

If recalled in such election, the elected official 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 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 said propositions. Under the propositions shall appear the word "Candidates", the directions to the voters required by section forty-two of chapter fifty-four of the General Laws, and beneath this, the names of candidates nominated in accordance with the provisions of law relating to elections. If two-thirds of the votes cast upon the question of recall is in the affirmative, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected. If more than one-third of the votes on the question are in the negative, the ballots for candidates need not be counted.

SECTION 7. No recall petition shall be filed against an officer within ninety days after he takes office nor, in the case of an officer subjected to a recall election and not recalled thereby, until at least ninety days after the election at which his recall was submitted to the voters of the town.

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 such resignation.