The provisions of the Constitution and General Laws of the State, now or hereafter in effect, pertaining to elections, special, general and primary, and also any special acts pertaining to elections in the Town of Little Compton, now or hereafter in effect, shall govern all Town elections, special, general and primary, so far as they may be applicable, excepting those provisions which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter affecting the form of government.
There shall be a bipartisan canvassing authority, to be called the Board of Canvassers, of three members who are qualified electors of the Town, not more than two (2) of whom shall belong to the same political party. The President of the Town Council shall nominate the members of the canvassing authority to the Council from lists of party voters submitted by the respective chairmen of the Town political committees. If the Council shall refuse to approve the nomination of any person so nominated, the President shall submit another person named on one of the lists until a person shall be appointed. If the chairman of the Town committee of a political party entitled to an appointment shall fail or refuse to submit a list as aforesaid, the President shall nominate any party voter of that political party. The Council may appoint, in the same manner as aforesaid, two (2) alternate members, not more than one (1) of whom shall belong to the same political party, to serve in the absence of a member. An alternate so serving shall be of the same political party as the absent member. In the event of a vacancy in the membership of the Authority, the Council shall appoint the alternate member who is of the same political party as the member to be replaced and appoint a new alternate member, or if no alternate member is available for appointment, the Council shall appoint a member following the procedure provided in this Section. All such appointees shall serve for the balance of the unexpired term.
A. 
Each member of the Board of Canvassers shall be appointed to serve for a term of six (6) years beginning on the first Monday of March succeeding the date of his or her appointment and until his or her successor is appointed and qualified. No person may serve on the Board who is an officer or employee of the United States or of the State or of any City or Town of the State, or is a candidate for any public office.
B. 
The Board of Canvassers shall be vested with all of the powers and duties now or hereafter vested by law in the canvassing authority of the Town. All members of the Board of Canvassers shall continue in office as members thereof until the expiration of the terms for which they were respectively appointed.
A. 
The electors of the Town shall have the right to participate directly in the making of policy decisions by petition and direct vote, in the following ways:
(1) 
Initiative.
The electors of the Town may propose ordinances to the Council and, if the Council fails to adopt an ordinance so proposed without any change in substance, to have the authority to adopt said ordinance at a special or general election, provided however, that such power shall not extend to the comprehensive plan or to zoning;
(2) 
Referendum.
The electors of the Town shall have power to request reconsideration by the Council of any adopted ordinance and, if the Council fails to repeal the ordinance upon such request, to repeal it at a special or general election, provided however, that such power shall not extend to the comprehensive plan or to zoning.
B. 
Any five (5) qualified electors of the Town may commence action pursuant to one of the procedures outlined in Subsection A hereof by filing with the Town Clerk an affidavit stating that they will constitute the petitioners' committee and be responsible for circulating the petition and filing it in proper form. The affidavit shall state the names and the addresses of said electors, specify the address to which all notices to the committee are to be sent, and set out in full the proposed initiative, or referendum that is the subject of their petition. Promptly after the affidavit is filed, the Town Clerk shall issue the appropriate petition blanks to petitioners' committee.
C. 
The petitions shall be signed and filed and Council action taken thereon in the following manner:
(1) 
All such petitions must be signed by ten percent (10%) of the electors registered to vote on the date on which the petition blanks are issued to the petitioners' committee by the Town Clerk. The petitioners shall have thirty (30) days from date of issue to collect the necessary signatures and file the completed petition with the Town Clerk, who shall transmit it immediately to the Board of Canvassers for signature verification. If the petition is determined to have sufficient valid signatures, the Board shall so certify to the Town Clerk.
(2) 
When an initiative or referendum petition has been certified as having sufficient signatures, the Council shall promptly consider the proposed initiative ordinance or reconsider the referred ordinance, in the same manner as provided for adoption of an ordinance proposed by a member of the Council. If the Council fails to adopt a proposed initiative ordinance without any change in substance, or fails to repeal the referred ordinance, as the case may be, within forty-five (45) days after the date the petition is certified, the Council shall cause the proposed or referred ordinance to be placed before the electors of the Town for a vote as provided in Subsection D below.
D. 
Any petition to initiate an ordinance or to repeal an ordinance upon which the Council has not acted favorably shall be placed before the electors for a vote at the next general election if one is scheduled to be held ninety (90) days or less following Council action thereon, or at a special election called for the purpose. Any such special election shall be scheduled to take place no less than forty-five (45) nor more than sixty (60) days following Council action. All petitions provided for under the terms of this Section for which sufficient signatures have not been gathered shall be null and void.
E. 
The results of the vote of the electors on any petition placed before them under the terms of this Section shall be as follows:
(1) 
If a majority of the qualified electors voting on a proposed initiative ordinance vote in its favor, it shall be considered adopted upon certification of the election results, and it shall be treated in all respects in the same manner as ordinances of the same kind adopted by the Council, provided however, that any ordinance enacted pursuant to the initiative procedure shall not be repealed, or amended as to substance, less than one (1) year following its adoption. If conflicting ordinances are approved at the same election, the one receiving the greatest number of affirmative votes shall prevail to the extent of such conflict.
(2) 
If a majority of the qualified electors voting on a petition to repeal an ordinance vote for repeal, it shall be considered repealed upon certification of the results of the election. No ordinance so repealed shall be re-enacted by the Council less than one (1) year following its repeal.
[Reso. 7/11/02; approved at election of 11/5/02; Reso. 7/6/06; approved at election 11/7/06; approved at election 11/8/2022]
In instances in which this Charter provides that there be elections to Town offices conducted at the annual Financial Town Meeting, such elections shall be conducted as herein provided. All such elections shall be by paper ballot and all candidate names listed on such ballots shall carry no other identification besides their addresses. Electors wishing to become candidates for offices to be filled at the Financial Town Meeting shall declare their intent in writing to the Town Clerk no later than twenty-one (21) days prior to the date of the election. The Town Clerk shall publish at least twice the names of all such candidates prior to the date of the Town Meeting. The Board of Canvassers shall prepare an appropriate ballot to be provided to electors upon their entrance into the voting area at the Town Meeting. The elector shall vote the ballot before leaving the voting area. The elector may vote by entering the voting area, at their convenience, at any time following the opening of the meeting place for the transaction of the Town Meeting and for no less than 15 minutes, or such additional time for all voters to cast their ballot as determined by the Board of Canvassers, after the adjournment of the Town Meeting. Vacancies occurring in any such office following election as provided herein shall be filled for the remainder of the term by the unelected candidate for the vacated position with the highest number of votes from the most recent election to that position for Budget Committee or Beach Commission as appropriate, or if that person is unavailable or unwilling to serve, shall be filled by the Town Council.