Chapter 637.          AN ACT PROVIDING FOR RECALL ELECTIONS IN THE
TOWN OF ROWLEY.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows:
SECTION 1. Any holder of an elective office may be recalled therefrom by the registered voters of the town as herein provided.
SECTION 2. Any one hundred registered voters of the town may 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 said voters making the affidavit copies of petition blanks demanding such recall, copies of which printed forms he shall keep available. Said blanks shall be issued by the town clerk with his 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 of recall as stated in the affidavit, and shall demand the election of a successor to the 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 twenty-one days after the filing of the affidavit, and shall have been signed by at least twenty-five percent of the registered voters of the town as of the date such affidavit was filed with the town clerk. To every signature shall be added the place of residence of the signer, giving the street and number, if any. The town clerk shall, within seventy-two hours of receipt, submit the petition to the registrars of voters in the town, and the registrars shall forthwith 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 forthwith give written notice of the receipt of the certificate to the officer sought to be recalled and shall, if said officer does not resign within five days thereafter, order an election to be held on a date fixed by them not less than sixty days 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 one hundred days after the date of the certificate, the 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 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 himself, 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 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 re-elected, 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 re-elected 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 shall submit the following propositions in the order indicated:
For the recall of (name of officer)       D
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 the said propositions. Under the proposition shall appear the word "Candidates." the directions to voters 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 the majority 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 the majority of votes on the question is in the negative the ballots for candidates need not be counted.
SECTION 7. No recall petition shall be filed against an officer within six months after he takes office, nor, 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 of the town has elapsed.
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 two years after such recall or resignation.
Approved December 29, 1989.