Chapter
149
2004 -- H 8376 AS AMENDED
Enacted 06/26/04
A N A C T
RELATING TO THE ELIMINATION OF
SCHOOL COMMITTEE PRIMARY ELECTIONS
IN THE TOWN OF GLOCESTER,
RHODE ISLAND
Introduced By:
Representatives Winfield, Gorham, and Aubin
Date
Introduced: March 31, 2004
It is enacted by the General
Assembly as follows:
SECTION
1. Section 3 of Chapter 101 of the 1976 Public Laws entitled “An Act
Providing for Election of a
Non-Partisan School Committee in the town of Glocester, Rhode
Island” is hereby amended to read
as follows:
Sec.
3. ELECTIVE OFFICERS – SCHOOL COMMITTEE. – At the general election to
be held in November, 1978, and
every two years thereafter, there shall be elected for terms of six
years one member of the school
committee of three members, each of whom shall be elected from
the town at large. One member will
be elected at each such election, so that the terms of the three
committee members will be
staggered. The following provisions shall govern the election of
members of the school committee:
(a)
Any qualified elector of the town who has resided in the town for at least six
months
may become a candidate for the
school committee at a general town election or a special election
to fill a vacancy, if there is
filed with the board of canvassers as hereinafter provided a
nominating petition signed by not
less than thirty-five qualified electors of the town which
petition will be signed by the
candidate indicating his intention to become a candidate. The forms
of such petitions shall be
prescribed by the board of canvassers and copies shall be furnished to
all candidates. Such petitions
shall show clearly the title of the position for which the candidate is
nominated, the term for which he
is a candidate, and the name and the place of actual residence
of the candidate. The signature of
each signer shall be followed by his place of residence, by
street and number where possible.
No elector shall be entitled to sign more than one nominating
petition for each member of the
school committee to be elected at the next election; and if the
name of an elector appears on more
than one petition, or on more petitions than the number of
school committee members to be
elected at the next election, if there are more than one, it shall
be counted only on the one, or
such number first filed with the board of canvassers. The
signatures to a nominating
petition need not all be subscribed to a single paper, but to each
separate petition paper there
shall be attached the affidavit of the circulator thereof stating the
number of signatures thereon, that
he is a qualified elector of the town, that all the signatures on
the paper were made in his
presence, and that they are the genuine signature of the persons whose
names they purport to be.
(b)
Nominating petitions for the school committee shall be filed with the board of
canvassers not earlier than ninety
or later than sixty days prior to a general town election and not
earlier than thirty not later than
twenty days prior to a special election to fill a vacancy. The board
of canvassers shall within five
days check the signatures on the petition with the list of electors
who will have become qualified as
such on the date of the election as last canvassed or published
according to law and shall notify
each candidate as to the sufficiency of his petition. If the
petition is valid except that it
contains less than the required number of valid signatures a
supplementary petition containing
additional signatures may be filed up to the last day for filing
petitions for that election.
Each
potential candidate shall have access to the board of canvassers’ list of
registered
voters. If any candidate questions
the validity or authenticity of any signature on any such
nominating petition the board of
canvassers shall forthwith and summarily decide the question
and for that purpose shall have
the same powers as are conferred by the general laws of the state
with respect to other nominating
petitions. When nominating petitions have been duly filed and
are in apparent conformity with
the above provisions they shall be conclusively presumed to be
valid unless written objections
thereto are made as to the eligibility of the candidate or the
sufficiency of the nominating
petitions or the signatures thereon. All such objections shall be filed
with the board of canvassers by
five o’clock in the afternoon of the next business day after the
last day fixed for filing
nominating petitions as hereinbefore provided. All objections to
nominating petitions shall be
considered by the board of canvassers. The board may at the hearing
on such objections summon
witnesses, administer oaths and require the production of books and
papers. Such witnesses shall be
summoned in the same manner, be paid the same fees and subject
to the same penalties for default
as witnesses before the superior court. When such objections
have been filed notice thereof
shall be given forthwith by registered mail or by personal service to
the candidate at his place of
residence as given in the nominating petition to which objection is
made. The decision of the board
shall be rendered within five days after the filing of objections.
After the determination of
objections, if any, the board of canvassers shall certify forthwith to the
secretary of state the names and
addresses of all candidates who have filed valid nominating
petitions. All certified lists of
candidates shall be filed by the board of canvassers with the
secretary of state not later than
twenty days before a general town election or primary preceding
the same and not later than twelve days before a special
election or a primary preceding the same
and in no case later than five
o’clock in the afternoon of the last day fixed for such filing.
(c)
No candidate may receive financial backing from a political party.
(d)
If the board of canvassers determines that more than two valid nominating
petitions
have been filed for each
position to be filled at an ensuing general town election or a special
election to fill a vacancy, as
the case may be, a non-partisan primary shall be held for the purpose
of reducing the number of
candidates to two for each vacancy to be filled. Such primary shall be
held at a time to be fixed by
the board of canvassers, not more than thirty-five nor less than
twenty-one days preceding a
general town election or, in the case of a special election to fill a
vacancy at a time to be fixed
by the board of canvassers, not more than fifteen nor less than ten
days before the date set for
such special election. All qualified electors of the town irrespective of
party affiliation shall have
the right to vote in such non-partisan primary for one candidate. This
right to vote in such non-partisan
primary or to sign the nominating petitions of such candidates
for the school committee shall
not be affected by signing nominating petitions for party
candidates for other offices or
by participation in party primaries.
Non-partisan
primaries shall, except as herein otherwise specifically provided, be
conducted by the board of
canvassers in accordance with the general laws of the state relating to
townwide partisan primaries.
The board of canvassers shall arrange the names of candidates by
lot, without party
designations, on the voting machines, and if the use of voting machines is
impracticable for any reason,
shall prepare paper ballots to be used at the primary on which the
names of candidates shall
likewise appear in alphabetical order and without party designations. At
least fifteen (15) days before
any such non-partisan primary preceding a general town election
and at least five (5) days
before any such primary preceding a special election to fill a vacancy the
board of canvassers shall
appoint for each polling place a warden, a clerk and at least six (6)
supervisors, from lists of
qualified persons presented to the board by the candidates in such
primary. The board of
canvassers shall designate the number of names, not exceeding two (2) for
each election official to be
appointed, to be contained in such lists. All election officials shall be
qualified electors of the
district in which they are to serve; provided, that if any candidate shall
certify that he has been unable
to obtain a sufficient number of election officials for any voting
district, who are qualified
electors of the district he may include in his list qualified electors of the
town who are not qualified
electors of the voting district and such persons shall be eligible to
serve in such district.
Wardens, clerks, and supervisors of the various polling places shall be
designated by the board of
canvassers so that there shall be as nearly as possible equal
representation for all
candidates; provided, that no candidate shall be represented by both a
warden and a clerk in the same
polling place. The election officials so appointed shall be sworn
and shall have all the powers,
duties and obligations conferred or imposed on election officials by
the general laws of the state.
(e) Whenever
the number of valid nominating petitions for school committee, filed with
the board of canvassers, shall
not exceed two, for each vacancy to be filled, no school committee
primary shall be held, and the The list of candidates’ names in such valid
petitions shall be
certified at once to the secretary
of state and their names shall be placed on the voting machines
or paper ballots used at the ensuing
general election or special election to fill a vacancy, as the
case may be, as candidates for the
school committee. Whenever a non-partisan primary has been
held as above provided, the two
candidates in such primary, or two times the number of vacancies
to be filled if more than one,
individually receiving the largest number of votes, shall be certified
at once to the secretary of
state and their names shall be placed on the voting machines or paper
ballots used at the ensuing
general election or special election to fill a vacancy, as the case may
be, as candidates for the
school committee. The names of both
such candidates for the school
committee at a general town
election shall appear on the voting machine or paper ballots used,
without party designations of any
kind. Otherwise, the voting machines or paper ballots shall be
arranged and the general election
shall be conducted, including the appointment of election
officials, as provided in the
general laws of the state relating to general town elections. The names
of candidates for school committee
at a special election to fill a vacancy shall be arranged on the
voting machines or paper ballots
used in such election alphabetically without party designations.
Election officials shall be appointed
as provided in subsection (d) hereof, in the case of a non-
partisan primary.
The
board of canvassers shall appoint for each polling place a warden, a clerk and
at least
six supervisors, from lists of
qualified persons presented to the board by the candidates in a
special or general election.
The board of canvassers shall designate the number of names, not
exceeding two for each election
official to be appointed, to be contained in such lists. All election
officials shall be qualified
electors of the district in which they are to serve; provided, that if any
candidate shall certify that he
has been unable to obtain a sufficient number of election officials
for any voting district, who
are qualified electors of the district he may include in his list qualified
electors of the town who are
not qualified electors of the voting district and such persons shall be
eligible to serve in such
district. Wardens, clerks, and supervisors of the various polling places
shall be designated by the board
of canvassers so that there shall be as nearly as possible equal
representation for all
candidates; provided, that no candidate shall be represented by both a
warden and a clerk in the same
polling place. The election officials so appointed shall be sworn
and shall have all the powers,
duties and obligations conferred or imposed on election officials by
the general laws of the state.
Otherwise,
such special election shall be conducted as provided in the general laws of the
state for the calling and conduct
of special elections to fill a vacancy.
(f)
Any candidate for the school committee for whom a valid nominating petition has
been filed shall be permitted to
withdraw as a candidate, provided, such withdrawal shall be in
writing and delivered to the board
of canvassers not later than ten (10) days before the date set for
the primary preceding a
general town election or not later than five (5) days before the date set
for
a primary preceding a special election to fill a vacancy.
(g)
All forms used in connection with the nomination of candidates for the school
committee, as provided in
subsection (a) to (f) above, including nominating petitions and paper
ballots when used, shall be
prescribed in conformity with such provisions and furnished by the
board of canvassers at the expense
of the town.
SECTION
2. The question of the acceptance or rejection of this act shall be submitted
to
the qualified electors of the town
of Glocester at the next general election to be held in November
of 2004. The question shall be
submitted in substantially the following form: “Shall an act passed
at the 2004 session of the general
assembly entitled ‘An Act Relating to the Elimination of School
Committee Primary Elections in the
town of Glocester, Rhode Island’, be approved?” and the
warning for the election shall
contain the question to be submitted. From the time the election is
warned and until it is held, it
shall be the duty of the town clerk to keep a copy of the act available
at his office for public
inspection, but any failure of the clerk to perform this duty shall not affect
the validity of the election.
SECTION
3. This section and section 2 of this act shall take effect upon passage and
the
remainder of this act shall take
effect upon the approval of this act by a majority of those voting
on the question at the election
prescribed by section 2 hereof.
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LC02955
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