[Amended 11-2-2010]
The provisions of the constitution and the general laws of the
State of Rhode Island, now or hereafter in effect, pertaining to elections,
special, general, and primary shall govern all town election, so far
as they may be applicable. Whenever, in said election, laws and related
matters, reference is made to any political party, or reference is
made to voting machines as being prepared for voting purposes in accordance
with political party designation, or any reference of whatever kind
and designation is made in said election laws and related matters
to any political party or political designation, for the purpose of
this Charter only, each and every such reference to a political party
shall be held to be eliminated from said election laws in accordance
with the provisions of this Charter.
All elected officials shall be qualified electors of the town.
[Amended 11-7-1978; 11-4-1980]
(a)
Time of general election. All elected officials
of the town shall be elected at a general election held on the first
Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each even numbered year,
commencing November 1974 in the manner provided by the election laws
of the state.
(b)
Recall. An elected official holding a town office,
having been in office for at least six (6) months, may be removed
from office by a recall petition prepared and approved by the voters
of the town in the manner hereinafter provided for recall procedure.
[Amended 11-8-2016]
|
Upon application by a registered voter, the Town Clerk shall
issue the recall petition blanks, which shall be dated, which shall
demand the removal of the designated elected official, and which shall
state the cause upon which the removal is sought. The petition is
to be filed with the Town Clerk within thirty (30) days after issuance
to be in order for the certification process.
| |
|
The signatures to a recall petition need not all be appended
to one paper but each signer shall add the signer's signature, as
it appears on the Board of Canvassers and Registration's records,
and the signer's place of residence, giving the street and number
or other sufficient designation if there be no street and number.
One of the signers shall take an oath before an officer competent
to administer oaths that the statement therein made is true, as the
signer believes, and that each signature to the paper appended is
the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be.
| |
|
The recall petition, as it pertains to a town-wide office holder,
shall be signed by at least twenty (20) percent of the registered
voters of the town and, in addition, by at least twenty (20) percent
of the registered voters in each Town Council district for certification
purposes. In regard to a district office holder, the recall petition
shall be signed by at least twenty (20) percent of the registered
voters of said district for certification purposes.
| |
|
The petition is to be submitted by the Town Clerk to the Board
of Canvassers and Registration for certification forthwith. If the
petition shall be found and certified by the Board of Canvassers and
Registration to be sufficient, within ten (10) days the board shall
submit the same with its certificate to the Town Council without delay;
the Town Council shall order an election to be held on a Tuesday fixed
by it not more than seventy-five (75) days after the date of the Board
of Canvassers and Registration's certificate that a sufficient petition
is filed. However, if any other town election is to occur within one
hundred twenty (120) days after the date of the certificate, the Town
Council shall postpone the holding of the recall election to the date
of such other election.
|
The Town Council shall provide by ordinance for the nomination
and election of town officers, not otherwise provided for in this
Charter or by state law, and for the holding of special town elections
when required, according to law.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
There shall be a bipartisan, canvassing authority elected by
the Town Council as provided by the laws of the state. Said canvassing
authority shall be known as the Board of Canvassers and Registration
and shall be vested with all the powers and duties now or hereafter
vested by law in such canvassing authority. All members of the Board
of Canvassers and Registration now in office shall continue in said
positions as members thereof until the expiration of the terms for
which they were respectively chosen.
After each decennial census and prior to the next general election thereafter, the Board of Canvassers and Registration shall divide the town into five compact and contiguous districts of as nearly equal population as possible for the election of members of the Town Council pursuant to Section 3.01 and the School Committee pursuant to Section 4.01 of this Charter.
At least ten (10) days prior to every election, the Board of
Canvassers and Registration shall appoint a moderator and a clerk
for each polling place, one (1) of whom shall be a Democrat and one
(1) a Republican, and who shall be party voters in the district for
which they are appointed.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
All municipal elections in the Town of Coventry, whether primary,
general, or special election, shall be non-partisan. There shall be
no party mark or designation upon any declaration of candidacy, nomination,
petition, or list of candidates.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
The position upon the ballot of the names of the candidates
in any primary, general or special town election shall be determined
by lot and said names shall be so placed upon said ballot under title
of the office to be filled. Said determination of said position by
lots shall be conducted by the Board of Canvassers and Registration,
at which said candidates or their representatives shall be entitled
to be present. Candidates shall be notified of the time and place
of such drawing at least twenty-four hours in advance thereof.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
At any primary election the two Town Council candidates of each
respective district receiving the highest number of votes shall be
deemed and declared to be the candidates for the office of Town Council
in their respective districts in the general town election. At any
primary election the two School Committee candidates of each respective
district receiving the highest number of votes shall be deemed and
declared to be the candidates of the office of School Committee in
their respective district in the general town election.
