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Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 17 Sec. 2685

  • Board of civil authority: means , unless otherwise provided by municipal charter, in the case of a town, the selectboard and town clerk and the justices residing therein; in the case of a city, the mayor, aldermen, city clerk, and justices residing therein; in the case of a village, the trustees, village clerk, and the justices residing therein; and, in any case, such suitable member or members of unrepresented or insufficiently represented political parties as may be appointed members of the board of civil authority under the provisions of section 2143 of this title. See
  • Candidate: means an individual who has taken any affirmative action to become a candidate for public office. See
  • Election: means the procedure whereby the voters of this State, or any of its political subdivisions, select persons to fill public offices or act on public questions. See
  • Local election: means any election that deals with the selection of persons to fill public office or the settling of public questions solely within a single municipality. See
  • Municipality: shall include a city, town, town school district, incorporated school or fire district or incorporated village, and all other governmental incorporated units. See
  • seal: shall include an impression of the official seal made upon paper alone or by means of a wafer or wax affixed thereto. See
  • Town: includes "city. See
  • Town clerk: means a town officer elected pursuant to section 2646 of this title or otherwise elected or appointed by law and performing those duties prescribed by 24 Vt. See
  • Vote tabulator: means a machine that registers and counts paper ballots and includes optical scan tabulators. See

§ 2685. Conduct of recount

(a)(1) Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection, at the time and place specified by the clerk, the board of civil authority shall break the seal, open the ballot container, and recount the votes pursuant to the procedure set forth in section 2685a of this subchapter and otherwise in the same manner as the votes were counted on the day of the election.

(2) When the ballot for the office is printed on index stock and configured to be readable by vote tabulator, the town clerk and board of civil authority shall conduct the recount by vote tabulator, pursuant to the procedure set forth in chapter 51, subchapter 9 of this title to the greatest extent practicable, if:

(A) the candidate who petitions for a recount requests that it be conducted by vote tabulator;

(B) the board of civil authority, at a meeting held not less than 60 days prior to a local election and warned pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 801, has voted to require the municipality for which it is elected to use vote tabulators in subsequent recounts; or

(C) the municipality has voted to use vote tabulators in subsequent recounts pursuant to a meeting warned for the purpose.

(b) The petitioner, the opposing candidates, and their designated representatives may inspect the ballots and observe the recount under the guidance of the board.

(c) The board shall certify the result to the town clerk, who shall declare the result.

(d) After the recount, the board shall seal the ballots and other materials back in the containers and the town clerk shall safely store them as provided in section 2590 of this title. (Added 1977, No. 269 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1979, No. 200 (Adj. Sess.), § 114; 2009, No. 40, § 4a; 2013, No. 161 (Adj. Sess.), § 57; 2015, No. 30, § 28, eff. May 26, 2015; 2017, No. 50, § 58.)