Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Recounts topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bill would keep local warrant drafters off recount boards to avoid appearance of conflict
Summary
Sponsor says HB 463 would bar board members who prepare warrant articles from serving on recount boards for those same articles to improve public confidence; Deputy Secretary of State flagged a cross-jurisdictional question for multi-town school districts.
Representative Robert Wherry, reading sponsor testimony for HB 463, told the House Election Law Committee the bill is a “straightforward” fix intended to strengthen trust in local election recounts by removing a potential conflict of interest.
“Right now…the same board members who write up and recommend the warrant articles, such as school budgets, also serve on the recount board for those very same articles,” Wherry said, reading the sponsor’s remarks. He described an example in which observers reported counting errors and one board member blocking observers’ view during a school budget recount.
The bill would require that the board of recount for school ballot recounts be composed of the school board and impartial appointees chosen by the moderator, and that select boards and neutral appointees make up recount boards for town ballot recounts. The testimony emphasized that the measure is intended to prevent the appearance of a conflict, not to accuse individuals of bad faith.
Erin Hennessy, deputy secretary of state, told the committee the bill “would change the way we do recounts right now” by requiring select boards to participate in recounts of school-board elections and school boards to participate in select-board recounts. She raised a practical question for situations where a school board covers more than one town: the bill’s language may need clarification about who would serve on the recount in multi-town districts.
Committee members asked whether the proposal would force a school-board member from one town to help recount ballots in a different town and whether the change would require additional statutory language; Hennessy said she would consult legal staff about those cross-jurisdictional issues.
The committee opened and then adjourned the public hearing on HB 463 after taking testimony. The record includes the sponsor’s written testimony read by Representative Wherry and the deputy secretary’s technical concerns; the committee did not take a final vote at the hearing.
