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 elective office in the town of Millis may be recalled therefrom by the qualified voters of the town as herein provided.

SECTION 2. Any twenty-five qualified voters of the town of Millis may make and file with the town clerk an affidavit containing the name of the officer sought to be recalled and a statement of the grounds for recall. The town clerk shall thereupon deliver to the voters making such affidavit a sufficient number of copies of printed petition blanks for such recall. Such blanks shall be issued by the town clerk with his signature and official seal attached thereto and shall be dated and addressed to the board of selectmen and 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 in such office. The petition shall be kept 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. Said petition before being returned and filed shall be signed by ten percent of the qualified voters, and to every signature shall be added the place of residence of the signer, giving the street and number. The recall petition shall be submitted, at or before five o'clock in the afternoon of the Monday preceding the day on which it must be filed, to the registrars of voters in the town, and the registrars shall forthwith certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of 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 board of selectmen without delay, and said board of selectmen shall forthwith give written notice to said officer of the receipt of said certificate and shall, if the officer sought to be recalled does not resign within five days thereafter, thereupon order a recall election to be held on a day fixed by them not less than sixty-five nor more than ninety days after the date of the town clerk's certificate that a sufficient petition is filed; provided, however, that if any other town election is to occur within sixty days after the date of said certificate, the selectmen may, in 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 so ordered, the election shall nevertheless proceed as provided in this section.

SECTION 4. An officer sought to be recalled may be a candidate to succeed himself, and unless he requests otherwise in writing, the town clerk shall place his name on the official ballot without nomination. The nomination of other candidates, the publication of the warrant for the recall election, and the conduct of the same, shall 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 not recalled, he shall continue in office for the remainder of the unexpired term, subject to recall as before, except as provided in section seven. If recalled in the 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 vacated.

SECTION 6. Ballots used in a recall election shall submit the following propositions in the order indicated:

For the removal of (name of officer)

Against the removal 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 such propositions. Under the proposition shall appear the word "Candidates" and the direction "vote for one" and beneath this the names of the candidates nominated as hereinbefore provided.

If a majority of the votes cast on the recall question is in the affirmative, then the candidate that received the highest number of votes in the special election to fill the vacancy shall be elected. If a majority of the votes is in the negative, the ballots for candidates shall not be counted.

SECTION 7. No recall petition shall be filed against an officer within three months after he takes office, nor in the case of an officer subjected to a recall election and not removed thereby, until at least three months after such recall election.

SECTION 8. This act shall be submitted for acceptance to the voters of the town of Millis at the next annual town election or a special town election, whichever occurs first, in the form of the following question which shall be placed on the official ballot at such election: "Shall an act passed by the General Court in the year nineteen hundred and ninety-two entitled 'An Act providing for recall elections in the town of Millis', be accepted " If a majority of the votes cast in answer to said question is in the affirmative, this act shall take effect, but not otherwise.