Title 17, Title 17 Title 17

The local board of canvassers shall appoint as many supervisors as are necessary whose duty it shall be to supervise the casting of votes by persons using mail ballots at a place that preserves their secrecy and to take acknowledgments, and jointly provide assistance, if requeste…

Mail ballots may be cast in the manner provided by law on or before election day; provided, that no mail ballot shall be counted unless it is received by the state board not later than the time prescribed by § 17-18-11 for the closing of polling places on election day, except bal…

Every mail ballot previously required by the provisions of law to contain the names of electors for president and vice-president of the United States shall contain the names of all candidates for president and vice-president of the United States preceded by the words “Electors fo…

The secretary of state may, if the secretary deems necessary, cause to be printed at the head of the ballot brief instructions for voting and the use of the ballot. Mail ballots shall, in addition to the official endorsement provided by law, bear the words: “Mail voters”, except …

Envelopes for the enclosure and return of mail ballots and their enclosing certified envelope shall have the printed or written address: “Board of Elections, 2000 Plainfield Pike, Cranston, Rhode Island 02921” or a post office box established and maintained by the board; and shal…

Any otherwise qualified elector may vote by mail ballot in the following circumstances: (1) An elector, within the State of Rhode Island who is incapacitated to the extent that it would be an undue hardship to vote at the polls because of illness, or mental or physical disability…

(a) Any legally qualified elector of this state whose name appears upon the official voting list of the city, town, or district of the city or town where the elector is qualified, and who desires to avail himself or herself of the right granted to him or her by the Constitution a…

(a) Any legally qualified elector of this state whose name appears upon the official voting list of the town or district of the city or town where the elector is so qualified is eligible to vote by emergency mail ballot according to this chapter. Within twenty (20) days or less p…

(a) In addition to any other available means of applying for a mail ballot, the secretary of state shall establish and maintain a system through which voters may apply for a mail ballot online. (b) Applications filed using such system shall be considered filed on the calendar dat…

The secretary of state shall also cause to be prepared and printed an adequate number of copies of instructions for voting procedure in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, or the secretary may cause the instructions to be printed in an appropriate place on the officia…

The secretary of state shall cause to be prepared and printed and shall furnish with each mail ballot an envelope for sealing up and certifying the ballot when returned. The envelope shall be printed in substantially the following form: “After marking ballot or ballots, fold and …

The distinctively colored certification envelope for persons intimately connected with military service and persons employed outside of the United States shall be printed in substantially the following form: After marking ballot or ballots, fold and enclose in this envelope and s…

(a) “Drop box” means the locked and secure container established and maintained by the board of elections, in accordance with this section, that shall serve as a receptacle for the receipt of mail and emergency ballots cast by voters. Every drop box established by the board of el…

(a) A voter may vote for the candidates of the voter’s choice by making a mark in the space provided opposite their respective names. (b) In case a voter desires to vote upon a question submitted to the vote of the electors of the state, the voter shall mark in the appropriate sp…

(a) No ballot transmitted under the provisions of this chapter shall be rejected for any immaterial addition, omission, or irregularity in the preparation or execution of the computer ballot, nor for failure of the voter to affix sufficient postage. No ballot shall be invalid by …

The requirements set forth by this chapter controlling mail ballot eligibility and the procedure by which mail ballots are obtained and cast shall be strictly applied to assure the integrity of the electoral system. No mail ballot which was not obtained and/or cast in material co…

Every voter who has received a mail ballot and has not cast it shall nevertheless return the unvoted ballot and its uncertified enclosing envelope to the state board or local board with a statement that the voter is not using the mail ballot, before eight o’clock (8:00) p.m. on e…

(a)(1) Beginning prior to and continuing on election day the state board, upon receipt of mail ballots, shall keep the ballots in a safe and secure place that shall be separate and apart from the general public area and sufficiently monitored through security measures including s…

The state board shall, at the completion of the count of all votes cast at any election, securely store all ballots cast in the election, and after the certification of the results of the elections, the state board shall place all ballots received from mail voters together with t…

On or before the fifteenth (15th) day of September in any year in which a general state or congressional district election is held, the secretary of state shall send to the local boards an attested copy of this chapter.

(a) No person, or one claiming to be that person, whose name has been marked upon any voting list, provided for official use at any election, with the mark as provided by § 17-20-10, shall be permitted to vote in person at the election; provided, that the person may re-establish …

(a) Wherever used in this chapter, every word importing only the masculine gender is construed to extend to, and include, females as well as males. (b) Whenever used in this chapter, “bipartisan pairs of supervisors” for primaries means a supervisor representing the endorsed cand…

(a) Any person who knowingly makes or causes to be made any material false statement in connection with his or her application to vote as a mail voter, or who votes or attempts to vote under the provisions of this chapter, by fraudulently signing the name of another upon any enve…

The board of elections shall consider all complaints that it receives alleging criminal violations of this chapter and shall refer those complaints which it receives which it deems to be more than frivolous to the state police for investigation.

The board of elections shall, on its own motion, disqualify any mail ballot which it determines, based upon a preponderance of the evidence, was not voted by the elector who purportedly cast it, or was voted by an elector who was not eligible to vote by mail ballot, or was not ob…

This chapter shall be construed liberally to effect the purposes of maintaining the integrity and the secrecy of the mail ballot by assuring that only electors eligible to vote by mail ballot are allowed to utilize that method of voting, by assuring that the procedures set forth …

If any provision of this chapter, or the application of the provision to any persons or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of the chapter and the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected by the invalidity.

Any member of the armed forces or of the merchant marine of the United States in active service, any person absent from the state in the performance of “services intimately connected with military operations”, as defined in § 17-20-3(d), and any person employed outside of the Uni…

The “residence”, as defined in § 17-1-3.1, of any person immediately prior to the commencement of that person’s active service as a member of the armed forces or of the merchant marine of the United States, or immediately prior to his or her absence from the state in the performa…

Any qualified elector who is a member of the armed forces or of the merchant marine of the United States, or who is absent from the state in the performance of “services intimately connected with military operations” as defined in § 17-20-3(c), and any qualified elector of this s…

(a) It is the intent and purpose that the provisions set forth in this section are designed to facilitate the federal mandate of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), 52 U.S.C. § 20301 et seq. (b) The Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) may be used as…

The secretary of state is designated as the single state office responsible for providing information regarding voter registration procedures and absentee ballot procedures under Section 702 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-252) [see 42 U.S.C. § 1973ff-1(a) and (b)]…

(a) In no event shall more than one vote be cast by any individual for any one office or proposition. (b) In the event that any person votes in person and also attempts to vote by mail ballot or by an official state blank ballot or an official federal absentee ballot, as the case…

(a) Whenever any person is unable to sign their name because of blindness, disability, or inability to read or write, the voter or their assistant shall mark a box to indicate the voter cannot sign due to blindness, disability, or inability to read or write and include the full n…

(a) A voter, by signing an application, may request that a mail ballot application be sent to the voter automatically for every election. The application and instructions shall be prescribed by the secretary of state, and furnished upon request to any elector by each local board …

(a) A voter who is a member of the armed forces in active service may, by certification to that effect by the voter’s civilian or military commander or noncommissioned officer in charge of the particular duty station, require that an absentee ballot application be sent to the vot…

(a) A voter who is a member of the armed forces in active service may, by certification to that effect by the voter’s civilian or military commander or noncommissioned officer in charge of the particular duty station, require that an absentee ballot be sent to the voter automatic…

(a) A voter who is employed by any agency, department, or division of the United States government who by reason of that employment resides outside of the continental United States may, by certification to that effect by the voter’s employer, require that an absentee ballot be se…

The state board shall commence the counting, canvassing, and tabulating of all votes cast, including mail ballots, at eight o’clock (8:00) p.m. on any election day at which mail ballots may be cast and within twenty-four (24) hours after any other election or primary, and shall c…

The sessions of the state board for the counting, canvassing, and tabulating provided for in § 17-22-1, and for the opening of the inner certifying envelopes containing mail ballots and for the counting, canvassing, and tabulating of these ballots, shall be public, but no notice …

The sheriff of Providence County shall assign as many of the sheriff’s deputies as the state board may request to attend upon the board during its sessions to preserve order. The orders of the presiding officer of the board at the meetings shall be obeyed by the deputies, and the…

In case the return made to the state board by any election officer or officers of any town or district meeting contains any statement or information which makes it desirable or proper, in the opinion of the board, to investigate the conduct of the election in the town or district…

(a) The state board shall immediately, after the result has been ascertained, furnish to each candidate elected a certificate of that candidate’s election, and shall deliver to the secretary of state, who shall keep it on file in the secretary’s office, a statement of: (1) The nu…

At any time prior to the certification of the results of a particular election, the state board of elections may, upon its own motion, investigate any allegation of error, irregularity, or impropriety in the conduct of any facet of the election which comes to its attention and ma…

The local board shall immediately, after the result has been ascertained, furnish to the secretary of state a statement of the number of votes cast in the city or town for each candidate, the total number of votes cast in the city or town for and against any proposed amendment to…

The state board shall, immediately after completing the counting, canvass, and tabulating of the votes cast for general officers and senators and representatives in the general assembly and declaring the result, furnish the governor a certificate of the names of the persons who h…