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 Westminster with more than six months remaining in the term of office may be recalled therefrom by the registered voters of the town as herein provided.

SECTION 2. Any twenty-five registered voters of the town of Westminster 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 recall. Said town clerk shall thereupon deliver to said voters making the affidavit copies of petition blanks demanding such recall, copies of which printed forms he shall keep available. Such blanks shall be issued by said town clerk, with his signature and official seal attached thereto. Such blanks shall be dated, shall be addressed to the board of selectmen and shall contain the names of all the persons to whom they are issued, the name of the person whose recall is sought, the grounds of recall as stated in the affidavit, and shall demand the election of a successor in the said office. A copy of the petition shall be entered in a record book to be kept in the office of said town clerk. Said recall petitions shall be returned and filed with said town clerk within twenty days after the filing of the affidavit, signed by at least fifteen percent of the registered voters of the town, who shall add to their signatures the street and number, if any, of their residences. Said town clerk shall, within twenty-four hours of receipt, submit the petitions to the registrars of voters who shall forthwith certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of voters in said town.

SECTION 3. If the petition shall be certified by the town clerk to be sufficient he shall forthwith submit the same with his certificate to the board of selectmen within five working days, and said board of selectmen within five working days shall 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 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 to occur within ninety days after the date of the certificate, said board of selectmen shall postpone the holding of the recall election to the date of such other election. If a vacancy occurs in said office after a removal election has been so ordered, the election shall nevertheless proceed as provided for in this section.

SECTION 4. Any officer whose recall is sought may be a candidate to succeed himself at the recall election. The nomination of all candidates, the publication of the warrant for the recall election and any election to fill a vacancy caused by a 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.

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

Adjacent to each proposition there shall be a place to mark a vote. After the proposition shall appear the word "Candidates" and the directions to the voters as 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 a majority of the votes cast on the recall question is in the affirmative, 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 to fill the potential vacancy need not be counted.

SECTION 7. No recall petition shall be filed against an officer of said town 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 the officer's recall was submitted to the voters.

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

SECTION 9. This act shall take effect upon its passage.