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Committee advances bill to ease filing when town clerks aren’t routinely available
Summary
House Bill 327 would permit filing with the Secretary of State and allow clerks to complete certain forms when not acting as a notary, aiming to help candidates and filers in small towns with limited office hours.
A sponsor introduced House Bill 327 to permit filing election-related forms with the Secretary of State and to allow clerks to complete required affidavit forms even when a town clerk is not a notary or the clerk’s office has limited hours.
The sponsor said the problem is not hypothetical: in some small towns clerks keep very limited hours, and in at least one instance a filer had to travel more than an hour and pay for a notary to complete paperwork. The sponsor said the Secretary of State’s office confirmed that town clerks were not authorized to notarize a particular affidavit and that limited hours had caused last-minute, costly filings.
Committee members discussed whether existing statutory provisions already permit town clerks or deputies to sign certain documents, and one member asked the Secretary of State’s office for a technical review. Committee members expressed a preference to consult further with the Secretary of State’s office but also signaled they would be open to moving the bill forward. A motion to recommend “ought to pass” was made and the committee approved the motion by voice vote.
Support and opposition signups were limited online; the sponsor urged the committee to move the bill to prevent last-minute filing difficulties for candidates and other filers in towns with constrained clerk availability.
