Town of Falmouth, MA Article VI Citizen Participation: Elections and Recall

§ C6-1 Initiative.

A. A Special Town Meeting may be called by the Select Board or shall be called by said Board upon the request, in writing, of at least two hundred (200) registered voters of the Town.

[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3]

B. By written petition to the Select Board, any ten (10) voters of the Town may secure the inclusion of an article for the warrants of the Annual Town Meeting in the spring and the regular Fall Town Meeting, provided that such petition shall be submitted in compliance with the requirements established by bylaw.

[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3]

C. By written petition to the Select Board, any one hundred (100) voters may secure the inclusion of an article for the warrant of any Special Town Meeting, provided that such petition shall be submitted at least thirty (30) days in advance of the date of such meeting.

[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3]

D. The Board may waive the requirements set forth in Subsection C.

§ C6-2 (Reserved) [1]

[1] Editor's Note: Former § C6-2, Publicizing of vacancies, was repealed ATE 5-21-2013.

§ C6-3 (Reserved)

§ C6-4 Town elections.

The regular election for all Town offices shall be by official ballot held on a date established by bylaw.

§ C6-5 Town elections to be nonpartisan.

All Town elections shall be nonpartisan, and election ballots shall be printed without any party mark or designation.

§ C6-6 Eligibility of Town voters.

[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3]

Any registered voter of the Town shall be eligible for election to any elective office or governmental body of the Town; provided, however, that no person shall hold, concurrently, more than one (1) at-large elective office of the Town.

§ C6-7 Ballot position.

A. Except as otherwise provided by General Laws, the order in which the names of all candidates, including incumbents, appearing on election ballots for any office shall be determined by a drawing, by lot, conducted by the Town Clerk, which shall be open to the public.

B. Before every election, the Town Clerk shall make available the names and residences of all candidates to be voted for and the form of any questions to be submitted to the voters at such election. Such lists shall be a public record, and the Town Clerk shall cause one (1) copy of the official ballot to be posted in Town Hall and published in a newspaper of general circulation within the Town at least one week prior to the election.

§ C6-8 Time of taking office.

[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3]

Any person duly elected to any office or governmental body shall take up the duties of the office on the first business day of the week following the election and following certification of the Town Clerk.

§ C6-9 Referendum.

A. A vote of the Town Meeting under any article in the warrant shall not be operative until the expiration of five (5) days after the final adjournment of the Town Meeting, other than the following:

(1) To adjourn.

(2) To appropriate money for the payment of principal and interest of bonds and notes of the Town.

(3) To authorize the temporary borrowing of money in anticipation of revenue.

B. If within such period of five (5) days a petition signed by not less than five percent (5%) of the registered voters in the Town is filed with the Town Clerk asking that any question involved in such a vote be submitted to the voters of the Town, then a referendum shall be held for the sole purpose of presenting the question to the voters of the Town.

C. The Town Clerk shall, within one (1) working day of receipt of said petition, submit the petition to the Board of Registrars in the Town, and the Registrars shall within fourteen (14) working days certify thereon the signatures which are names of registered voters. If the petition shall be found and certified by the Board of Registrars to be sufficient, the Town Clerk shall within one (1) working day submit same with a certificate so stating to the Select Board. The Select Board shall within seven (7) working days order a special election to be held on a date fixed by them, which shall not be less than sixty (60) nor more than eighty (80) days after the date of the Town Clerk's certificate that a sufficient petition has been filed.

[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3]

D. Each question to be voted on in the referendum shall be submitted to the voters in the following form: "Shall the Town vote to approve the action of the Town Meeting whereby it was voted that [here insert a brief summary of the substance of the vote]?"

[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3]

E. All procedures for voting upon such a question shall be in the same manner as is provided by General Laws for the conduct of Special Town Elections.

§ C6-10 Recall of elective officeholders.

A. Any elected officeholder, except Town Meeting members, may be recalled by the voters as herein provided.

B. One hundred (100) registered voters of the Town may file with the Town Clerk an affidavit containing the name of the officeholder sought to be recalled and a statement of the grounds for recall; provided, however, that not more than twenty-five (25) names shall be from any one (1) precinct of the Town.

C. The Town Clerk shall within one (1) working day of receipt submit the affidavit to the Board of Registrars in the Town, and the Registrars shall within fourteen (14) days certify thereon the signatures which are names of registered voters. If the affidavit shall be found and certified by the Board of Registrars to be sufficient, the Town Clerk shall thereupon deliver to the ten (10) voters first named on such affidavit a sufficient number of copies of petition blanks demanding such recall, printed forms which shall be kept available. The blanks when issued shall be signed by the Town Clerk and shall have the Official Seal attached thereto. They shall be dated and addressed to the Select Board and shall contain the names of the ten (10) persons to whom they are issued, the number of petitions to be issued, the name of the officeholder whose recall is sought, the grounds for recall as stated in the affidavit and shall require the election of a successor to such office.

[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3]

D. The recall petition shall bear the signatures and residential addresses of at least fifteen percent (15%) of the registered voters, no more than twenty-five percent (25%) of which shall be from any one (1) precinct, and shall be returned to the Town Clerk within twenty (20) working days after the filing of the affidavit. The petitions containing the signatures requesting a recall election need not all be submitted at the same time.

E. The Town Clerk shall within one (1) working day of receipt submit the petition to the Board of Registrars in the Town, and the Registrars shall within fourteen (14) working days certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of registered voters.

[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3]

F. If the petition shall be found and certified by the Board of Registrars to be sufficient, the Town Clerk shall submit the same with a certificate so stating to the Select Board. The Select Board shall, within three (3) working days, give written notice by registered mail of the receipt of the certificate to the officeholder sought to be recalled.

[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3]

G. Unless the officeholder shall have resigned within five (5) days thereafter, the Select Board shall order a special election to be held on a date fixed by them, which shall be not less than sixty (60) nor more than eighty (80) 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 (90) days after the date of the certificate, the Select Board shall postpone the holding of the special election to the date of such other election.

[Amended ATE 5-19-2020, Question 3]

H. Any officeholder sought to be removed may not be a candidate to succeed himself in the recall election. The nomination of candidates, the publication of the warrant for the recall election and the conduct of the same shall all be in accordance with the provisions of General Laws relating to elections, and the election to replace the officeholder sought to be removed shall be held on the same day and on the same ballot as the recall election.

I. The incumbent shall continue to perform the duties of office until the recall election. If not recalled, the incumbent shall continue in office for the remainder of the unexpired term. An incumbent having successfully survived a recall election shall not again be subject to recall until six (6) months after such survival. If recalled, the incumbent shall be deemed removed upon the certification of the successor who shall hold office during the unexpired term. If the successor fails to qualify within five (5) days after receiving notification of election, the incumbent shall thereupon be deemed removed and the office vacant.

J. The form of the question to be voted upon shall be substantially as follows: "Shall [here insert the name and title of the elective officer whose recall is sought] be recalled?" The action of the voters to recall shall require a majority vote, but shall not be effective unless the total of those voting for and against recall shall exceed twenty percent (20%) of the registered voters of the Town.

K. No person, having been removed from office by recall or having resigned from office while recall proceedings were pending against him, shall be appointed to any Town office within two (2) years following said removal or resignation.