669:34 Declaration of Results. –
I. Upon completion of the recount, the board of recount shall publicly declare the results and certify such declaration to the town clerk.
II. The town clerk shall record the certificate received under paragraph I; and the person so declared to have been elected shall, unless the result is changed upon appeal to the superior court, be the duly elected officer of such town.
III. A person declared elected at the election whose election is affirmed by the recount may take the oath of office and assume office at any time following declaration of the results of the recount, provided the oath is taken by the deadline established by RSA 42:6.
IV. When a different person is declared elected following the recount, if no appeal is taken that person may take the oath of office and assume office on the sixth day following the date of the recount, provided that the oath is taken by the deadline established by RSA 42:6.
V. If a different person is declared elected following the recount, and an appeal is taken, that person may not assume office until the superior court has issued a final ruling on the appeal. The person holding the office prior to the election shall continue to hold the office until a successor is declared elected by the superior court and the person declared elected by the court takes the oath of office.
VI. When an appeal involves a multi-seat office, every declared candidate for that office and any write-in candidate who received 5 percent or more of the votes cast shall be entitled to notice of the appeal and may choose to become a party to the appeal. When ruling on an appeal involving an election where voters elected more than one person to a multi-seat office, the court may remove from office any person who was declared elected at the election and at the recount who has already taken the oath of office and assumed office if the court determines that it is more likely than not that a different person was elected to that seat. The validity of any actions taken by a person who assumes office pursuant to this section and is later removed as a result of an appeal may not be challenged on the basis that the person was subsequently removed as a result of the appeal.
Source. 1979, 410:1. 2008, 280:2, eff. Aug. 26, 2008.