Friday, January 2, 2009

Amendments to proposed recall article-Section 2

Section 2 of the proposed recall amendment to the Town Charter says,

SECTION 2. Any two hundred registered voters of the town of Dartmouth 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. At least fifty names of registered voters shall be from each of the voting precincts into which said town is divided. Said Town Clerk shall thereupon deliver to said voters making such affidavit, a sufficient number of copies of petition blanks demanding such recall, a supply of which shall be kept on hand. Such blanks shall be issued by the Town Clerk, with his signature and official seal attached thereto. Further, such blanks shall be dated, shall be addressed to the Select Board of said town and shall contain the names of all the persons to whom they are issued, the name of the person whose recall is sought and the grounds of recall as stated in the affidavit and shall demand the election as a successor to said office. A copy of the affidavit shall be entered in a record book to be kept in the office of said Town Clerk. Said recall petition shall be returned and filed with the Town Clerk within twenty days after the filing of the affidavit and shall be signed by at least fifteen percent of the registered voters of said town, who shall add to their signatures their place of residence, including their street, number and precinct; provided, however, that not more than thirty- three and one-third percent of the total number shall be from any one precinct.
The Town Clerk shall, within twenty-four hours of receipt thereof. submit the signed petition to the registrars of voters in the town and said registrars shall, within five working days, certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of registered voters of the town.

Whereupon I ditch the said pretentious language forthwith and replace it with this...

The voters may initiate a recall petition by delivering to the Town Clerk an affidavit containing the signatures, addresses, and precinct of at least fifty registered voters from each voting precinct of the town, naming the official to be recalled, and the grounds for the recall petition. The Town Clerk shall file a copy of the affidavit as a public record.
After certifying that the signatures are names of registered voters of the town and at least fifty voters from each precinct, the Town Clerk shall provide sufficient petition blanks, addressed to the Select Board, stating name of the official to be recalled, the grounds for the recall, the name of the persons to whom the petition blanks were issued, the date of issue of the petition, a demand for an election of a successor to the office of the named official to be recalled, and bearing the signature and seal of the Town Clerk,.
The petition blanks shall be returned within twenty days of the filing of the affidavit and shall contain the signatures, addresses, and precinct of not less than 15% of the registered voters of the town at the time of the last town election. However, not more than 1/3 of the total signatures on the petition shall be from any one precinct.
The Town Clerk shall certify within five working days after return of the petition that the number of signatures are names of registered voters of the town and are more than 15% of the registered voters of the town at the time of the last town election.

I think changing the wording to more common usage and syntax simplifies and clarifies this section. Notice that I proposed that 50 voters must sign the affidavit from each precinct, the Town Clerk must certify the voters on the affidavit, and clarified the number of voters as that number registered at the time of the last town election

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