Conn. Gen. Stat. » Title 07 — MUNICIPALITIES · Chapter 90 — Town and Other Community Meetings
Connecticut General Statutes

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-7 (2025)

Conduct of meeting of towns, societies and other municipal corporations. Vote by ballot or voting machine; when

✓ laws through the 2024 session: the source has not yet published 2025 Public Acts (checked Sept. 2026)
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section CT-CGAcga.ct.gov (official) JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar
All towns, when lawfully assembled for any purpose other than the election of town officers, and all societies and other municipal corporations when lawfully assembled, shall choose a moderator to preside at such meetings, unless otherwise provided by law; and, except as otherwise provided by law, all questions arising in such meetings shall be decided in accordance with standard parliamentary practice, and towns, societies and municipal corporations may, by ordinance, adopt rules of order for the conduct of their meetings. At any such town meeting the moderator shall be chosen from the last-completed registry list of such town. Two hundred or more persons or ten per cent of the total number qualified to vote in the meeting of a town or other municipal corporation, whichever is less, may petition the clerk or secretary of such town or municipal corporation, in writing, at least twenty-four hours prior to any such meeting, requesting that any item or items on the call of such meeting be submitted to the persons qualified to vote in such meeting not less than seven nor more than fourteen days thereafter, on a day to be set by the town meeting or, if the town meeting does not set a date, by the town selectmen, for a vote by paper ballots or by a “Yes” or “No” vote on the voting machines, during the hours between twelve o'clock noon and eight o'clock p.m.; but any municipality may, any provision of any special act to the contrary notwithstanding, by vote of its legislative body provide for an earlier hour for opening the polls but not earlier than six o'clock a.m. The selectmen of the town may, not less than five days prior to the day of any such meeting, on their own initiative, remove any item on the call of such meeting for submission to the voters in the manner provided by this section or may submit any item which, in the absence of such a vote, could properly come before such a meeting to the voters at a date set for such vote or along with any other vote the date of which has been previously set. The paper ballots or voting machine ballot labels, as the case may be, shall be provided by such clerk or secretary. When such a petition has been filed with such clerk or secretary, the moderator of such meeting, after completion of other business and after reasonable discussion, shall adjourn such meeting and order such vote on such item or items in accordance with the petition; and any item so voted may be rescinded in the same manner. If such moderator resigns or is for any other cause unable to serve as moderator at such adjourned meeting, such clerk or secretary shall serve, or may appoint an elector of such municipality to serve, as moderator of such adjourned meeting. Such clerk or secretary, as the case may be, shall phrase such item or items in a form suitable for printing on such paper ballots or ballot labels, provided that the designation of any such item shall be in the form of a question, as prescribed under section 9-369. The vote on any item on the call of a town or other municipal corporation shall be taken by paper ballot if so voted at the meeting, if no petition has been filed under this section with reference to such item.

(1949 Rev., S. 495; 1953, S. 210d; 1957, P.A. 545; 1961, P.A. 593; 1967, P.A. 805, S. 2; 1969, P.A. 3, S. 1; 694, S. 18; P.A. 73-467; P.A. 79-631, S. 28, 111; P.A. 81-228; P.A. 86-170, S. 3, 13.)

History: 1961 act substituted deciding of questions in accordance with standard parliamentary practices for deciding by majority vote and authorized adoption of rules of order by ordinance; 1967 act changed poll opening from 8 to 6 a.m. and amended town's options re hours to remove option of shorter voting period than specified; 1969 acts changed poll hours from between “6 a.m. and 6 p.m.” to between “twelve noon and eight p.m.” and replaced former option of keeping polls open until eight p.m. with option for earlier opening than specified; P.A. 73-467 changed requirements for petition to 10% of population or the previous 200 persons, whichever is less; P.A. 79-631 made technical changes; P.A. 81-228 allowed selectmen to call for referendum on their own initiative; P.A. 86-170 required that designation on ballot label be in form of question.

See Sec. 9-1 for applicable definitions.

Cited. 184 C. 200; 204 C. 551; 234 C. 513.

Cited. 13 CA 325.

(Return to Chapter
Table of Contents)		 (Return to
List of Chapters)		 (Return to
List of Titles)

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases, 1969–2011 · leading case: Rosado v. Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp., 884 A.2d 981 (Conn. 2005).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Rosado v. Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp., 884 A.2d 981 (Conn. 2005). · cites it 6× “and Practice Book § 7-7, [24] `all state the obvious, [namely] that the court has custody and control of its own files.”
Concerned Citizens of Sterling v. Town of Sterling, 529 A.2d 666 (Conn. 1987). · cites it 6× “The plaintiffs petitioned for a referendum on that question pursuant to General Statutes § 7-7. 3 On *553 February 22, 1986, a referendum was held and the voters of Sterling rejected the proposed sale.”
Rosado v. Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp., 825 A.2d 153 (Conn. App. Ct. 2003). · cites it 4× “43-141 (June 24, 1943); and Practice Book § 7-7, “all state the obvious, that the court has custody and control of its own files.”
Windham Taxpayers Ass'n v. Bd. of Selectmen, 662 A.2d 1281 (Conn. 1995). · cites it 2× “” General Statutes § 7-7 provides: “All towns, when lawfully assembled for any purpose other than the election of town officers, and all societies and other municipal corporations when lawfully assembled, shall choose a moderator to preside at such meetings, unless otherwise…”
Aho v. Anthony, 782 F. Supp. 2d 4 (D. Conn. 2011). “5 Section 7-6, however, only discusses the right to vote in municipal meetings, and Section 7-7 only states that “all questions arising in such meetings shall be decided in accordance with standard parliamentary practice.”
Massad v. City of New London, 652 A.2d 531 (Conn. Super. Ct. 1993). “ectors or voters, as the case may be, of a municipality at a meeting of such electors or voters, which meeting is not an election, as defined in subsection (d) of this section, and is not a town meeting, or (3) a question or proposal which is submitted to a vote of the electors…”
Cascio v. Town Council, 256 A.2d 685 (Conn. 1969). “Only under certain circumstances, where the classification is found to be unjust, confiscatory or unconstitutional and the reasons for such a change are unusual and compelling, will the courts reverse the authority’s refusal to grant an application for a change of zone on the…”
DeCarlo v. Kolnaski, 536 A.2d 598 (Conn. App. Ct. 1988). · cites it 2× “2 Prior to the meeting scheduled to consider these proposals on May 15,1986, a petition, signed by more than four electors was filed seeking a referendum on the resolutions, pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes § 7-7. The defendant city clerk of Groton refused to schedule…”
Walton v. Burdick, 439 A.2d 942 (Conn. 1981). · cites it 4× “We agree with the *205 trial court that, because no police tax district exists until a petition is approved at the § 7-325 meeting, no municipality or other body politic exists for purposes of either § 9-1 (n) (3) or § 7-7. Section 7-325 details a cogent, comprehensive mechanism…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.