An Act To Clarify Recounts in Municipal Elections
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1476
Committee: State and Local Government
Sponsors: HANDY
Amends: 30-A MRSA §2530-A, 30-A MRSA §2532

Legislative Document
No. 1476
H.P. 1078
House of Representatives, April 2, 2019
An Act To Clarify Recounts in Municipal Elections
Reference to the Committee on State and Local Government suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative HANDY of Lewiston.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  30-A MRSA §2530-A, as amended by PL 2011, c. 255, §§3 to 5, is 
repealed.
Sec. 2.  30-A MRSA §2532, as amended by PL 2017, c. 191, §2, is further 
amended to read:
§2532.  Referendum recount procedure
In the case of a referendum, a recount must be granted upon written application of 
10% or 100, whichever is less, of the registered voters in the municipality.  The 
application must designate a contact person, with the person's mailing address, residential 
address and telephone number, who is to be considered the official representative of those 
registered voters with regard to the referendum.  The time limits, rules and all other 
matters applying to candidates under section 2531-B apply equally to applicants for the 
recount.  Except as otherwise provided in this section, the method of conducting a 
referendum recount is governed by Title 21-A, section 737-A.  An official representative 
from the opposing side of a referendum issue is determined by the first submittal of an 
affidavit signed by 10 registered voters in the municipality.
1.  Date of recount and notice.  When the application for a recount is filed, the 
municipal clerk shall immediately set a date for the recount, which must be held within 5 
business days after the application is filed.  The municipal clerk shall notify the municipal 
officers and the opposing official representative of the recount date.
2.  Procedure at recount.  The municipal clerk shall publicly sort and facilitate the 
counting of the votes.  All recounts must be conducted by a hand recount, with counters 
who may be provided by the official representatives.  The number of required counters to 
facilitate a hand count must be determined by the municipal clerk.  To whatever extent 
possible, when counters are provided by both opposing sides, each counter must be paired 
with a counter from the opposing side.  If no counters are provided, the municipal clerk 
may secure election officials to conduct the hand recount.
All election materials in any way involved in the election and all records required by law 
to be kept in connection with the election must be available for inspection.
Disputed ballots may be resolved by the official representatives or their legal 
representatives.  If both opposing sides do not have an official representative or legal 
representative designated, disputed ballots must remain unresolved.  Unresolved disputed 
ballots or challenged ballots may not be included in the recount and must be segregated 
and secured with other voted ballots.  If the number of unresolved disputed or challenged 
ballots affects the result of the recount, the matter must be sent to the Supreme Judicial 
Court in accordance with Title 21-A, section 737-A, subsection 10.
3.  Packages resealed and marked.  After the recount, the municipal clerk shall 
reseal the packages of ballots and the incoming voting lists and shall note the fact and 
date of the recount on them.
4.  Certificate of election.  Within 24 hours after the results of a recounted 
referendum are determined, the municipal clerk shall certify the results of the recount to 
the respective official representatives involved and issue a certificate of election.  This 
certificate of election supersedes any certificate issued previously.
SUMMARY
This bill repeals the law governing a candidate's inspection of ballots and incoming 
voting lists and amends the law governing the referendum recount procedure to provide 
for establishing official representatives of both sides of a referendum issue, determining 
the date of the recount, the hand recount of votes, the availability of election materials for 
inspection, the resolution of disputed ballots, the resealing of recounted ballots and 
certification of the election results.