Sec. 7-171. Adoption of bazaar and raffle law.
Sec. 7-171. Adoption of bazaar and raffle law. Any town, city or borough may,
by ordinance, adopt the provisions of sections 7-170 to 7-186, inclusive, and the chief
executive authority of any town, city or borough shall, upon the petition of at least five
per cent of the electors of such municipality as determined by the last-completed registry
list, submit the question of adopting the provisions of sections 7-170 to 7-186, inclusive,
to a vote of the electors of such municipality at a special meeting called for such purpose
within twenty-one days after the receipt of such petition. Such petition shall contain the
street addresses of the signers and shall be submitted to the municipal clerk, who shall
certify thereon the number of names of electors on such petition, which names are on
the last-completed registry list. Each page of such petition shall contain a statement,
signed under the penalties of false statement, by the person who circulated the same,
that each person whose name appears on such page signed the same in person and that
the circulator either knows each such signer or that the signer satisfactorily identified
himself to the circulator. The warning for such meeting shall state that the purpose of
such meeting is to vote on the adoption of the provisions of said sections. Such vote
shall be taken and the results thereof canvassed and declared in the same manner as is
provided for the election of officers of such municipality. The vote on such adoption
shall be taken by a "YES" and "NO" vote on the voting machine and the designation
of the question on the voting machine ballot label shall be "Shall the operation of bazaars
and raffles be allowed?" and such ballot label shall be provided for use in accordance
with the provisions of section 9-250. If, upon the official determination of the result of
such vote, it appears that the majority of all the votes so cast are in approval of such
question, the provisions of said sections shall take effect immediately. Any town, city
or borough, having once voted on the question of allowing bazaars and raffles as herein
provided, shall not vote again on such question within two years from the date of the
previous vote thereon. Any subsequent vote thereon shall be taken at the next regular
town, city or borough election following the receipt of a petition as herein provided,
which petition shall be filed at least sixty days prior to such election, and such question
may be so voted upon only at intervals of not less than two years. Any town, city or
borough which, prior to October 1, 1957, has voted more than once on such question,
shall, for the purposes of this section, be treated as though it had voted only once thereon.
(1955, S. 292d; 1957, P.A. 378; 1971, P.A. 871, S. 59; P.A. 73-55, S. 1, 2; P.A. 86-170, S. 4, 13; P.A. 87-320, S. 3.)
History: 1971 act substituted "false statement" for "perjury"; P.A. 73-55 added provision that municipalities may adopt
provisions of Secs. 7-170 to 7-186 by ordinance; P.A. 86-170 required that ballot label designation be in form of question;
P.A. 87-320 repealed clause prohibiting absentee voting for a vote under this section and required petition for subsequent
vote to be fixed at least 60 days, instead of 21 days, prior to such election.