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. A person holding elected office in the town of Princeton with more than six months remaining in the term of such office may be recalled therefrom by the qualified voters of the town as herein provided.

SECTION 2. Twenty-five registered voters of said 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 upon which said petition is based. Said town clerk shall thereupon deliver to said voters making the affidavit copies of petition blanks demanding such recall, copies of which printed forms shall be kept available by said town clerk. Such blanks shall be issued with the signature and official seal of said town clerk attached thereto. Said blanks shall be dated, addressed to the board of selectmen and shall contain the name of the person whose recall is sought, the grounds for such recall as stated in said affidavit, and shall demand the election of a successor to said office. A copy of said affidavit 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 twenty days after the filing of said affidavit, signed by at least fifteen percent of the registered voters of said town, which voters shall add to their signatures the street and number, if any, of their residences. The town clerk shall, within twenty-four hours of receipt, submit said petition 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 found and certified by the town clerk to be sufficient, said clerk shall forthwith submit the same with his certificate to the board of selectmen within five working days of such certification, and the board of selectmen, within five working days of such submission, 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 said board not less than sixty and not 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, the 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 who has been removed by a vote at the recall election may be a candidate to succeed himself in an election to be held to fill such vacancy. 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 section seven. 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 vote for either of said propositions. After these propositions shall appear the word "Candidates" and the direction "Vote for One" and beneath this the names of the candidates nominated as hereinbefore provided. In case of machine voting or punch card balloting, appropriate provision shall be made to allow the same intent of the voter.

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 said recall 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.