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An Act To Clarify Recounts in Municipal Elections
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Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §2530-A, as amended by PL 2011, c. 255, §§3 to 5, is repealed.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.