Title 17, Title 17 Title 17

Any public officer, upon whom a duty is imposed by this title, who willfully neglects to perform his or her duty, or who performs it in a way that hinders the objects of this title, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

All prosecutions for offenses against the provisions of this chapter shall commence within one year after the offenses have been committed, and not afterwards. And upon the presentation of a certificate of the clerk of any court of the final conviction in the court of any person …

(a) No person, except one qualified to sign a petition for the adoption of a home rule charter as provided in § 6 of article XIII of the Constitution of this state, shall circulate any petition, or obtain signatures on any petition, and any petition circulated, or any signature o…

No sound equipment advocating the election or defeat of any candidate or the approval or disapproval of any referenda shall be allowed within five hundred (500) feet of any polling place.

No newspaper, periodical, radio, or television station shall charge for a political advertisement a sum greater than that charged by the medium for advertisement if it were nonpolitical. The attorney general shall enforce the provisions of this section and, upon conviction, a civ…

(a) No person shall conduct any form of poll or survey of voter opinion or voter conduct within a building or within fifty (50) feet of the entrance or entrances to a building in which voting is being conducted at any primary or election; provided, that nothing in this section sh…

As defined in § 17-2-1, no general officer and no candidate for a general office shall solicit campaign contributions by guaranteeing to all contributors of a specified minimum amount of money, as a quid pro quo for their contributions, the right to meet with the general officer …

(a) Any person is guilty of a felony who: (1) Makes a declaration of candidacy or obtains, circulates, or causes to be circulated his or her nomination papers for an office, knowing or with good reason to know that he or she is not qualified as provided in this title to be his or…

(a) Except in accordance with subsections (b) and (c) of this section, no elected official shall permit the expenditure of public funds from any official budget under his or her authority for any publication, advertisement, broadcast, or telecast of his or her photograph, voice, …

Media outlets in Rhode Island that sell time for advertisements pertaining to referenda questions at an election shall require the purchasers of the advertisements to prominently display the state in which the referenda election is to be held.

No person shall intentionally write, print, post, or distribute, or cause to be written, printed, posted, or distributed, a circular, flier, or poster designed or tending to injure or defeat any candidate for nomination or election to any public office, by criticizing the candida…

Whoever violates any provision of § 17-23-1 or § 17-23-2 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Every person who, in any election, fraudulently votes or attempts to vote, not being qualified, notwithstanding that person’s name may be on the voting list at the polling place where the person votes or attempts to vote; or who votes or attempts to vote in the name of some other…

Every person who directly or indirectly gives, or offers to agree to give, to any elector or to any person for the benefit of any elector, any sum of money or other valuable consideration for the purpose of inducing the elector to give in or withhold that elector’s vote at any el…

(a) Every person being an employer who, within ninety (90) days of a general election, pays any of his or her employees the salary or wages due them in “pay envelopes” upon which there is written or printed, or in which there is inserted: (1) a notice or information, to the effec…

(a) It shall be unlawful for any club or society or association, whether incorporated or not, to include in its name the word “republican” or “democrat” or any designation indicating its affiliation with a political party, unless: (1) If it is state or congressional district wide…

Every city or town clerk or local board required by law to furnish any city, town, ward, or voting district officer elect with a proper certificate of the officer’s election who neglects or refuses to do so, as soon as possible after the election, shall be guilty of a petty misde…

Any person who falsely makes, or willfully defaces or destroys, any certificate of nomination or nomination paper, or any part of it, or any letter of withdrawal, or files any certificate of nomination or nomination paper or letter of withdrawal, knowing it or any part of it to b…

Whenever any person upon whom is imposed any duty connected with the calling, warning, or conducting of any town, ward, or district meeting, or with the canvassing of the lists of voters for use at these meetings, or with the counting of the votes cast at the meetings, or the dec…

The person appointed by the court, as provided in § 17-24-1, shall immediately proceed to perform the duties devolved upon him or her by the court, and the acts done by him or her in pursuance of his or her appointment shall be as effectual and valid in all respects as if the act…

The person appointed by the court, as provided in § 17-24-1, shall be deemed an officer of the court and shall have full and free access to all records and papers necessary to enable him or her to perform the duties devolved upon him or her by the court, and any person interferin…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Rhode Island Campaign Contributions and Expenditures Reporting Act”.

(a) No contribution shall be made or received, and no expenditures shall be directly made or incurred, to support or defeat a candidate except through: (1) The candidate or duly appointed campaign treasurer or deputy campaign treasurer of the candidate; (2) The duly appointed cam…

(a)(1) No person, other than the candidate to his or her own campaign, nor any political action committee shall make a contribution or contributions to any candidate, as defined by § 17-25-3, or political action committee or political party committee that, in the aggregate, excee…

(a) During the period between the appointment of the campaign treasurer for state and municipal committees and political action committees, or in the case of an individual the date on which the individual becomes a “declared or undeclared candidate” as defined in § 17-25-3(3), ex…

(a) For every report filed after the effective date of this chapter, the campaign treasurer of each candidate seeking nomination for election or election to public office shall maintain and preserve all records and supporting documentation for a period of four (4) years from the …

(a) Appointment of treasurer or deputy treasurer. Whenever a campaign account containing campaign funds received and expended by a candidate, office holder, or treasurer, subject to the provisions of this chapter, receives or expends at least ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in any…

No contributions shall be made, and no expenditure shall be made or incurred, whether anonymously, in a fictitious name, or by one person or group in the name of another, to support or defeat a candidate in a primary, general, or special election. No treasurer or candidate shall …

(a) Any person who willfully and knowingly violates the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) per violation. (b) The state board may fine any person or entity who violates the p…

Any state or municipal committee of any political party may receive and disburse moneys for the general purposes of maintaining the organization during the whole or any part of the year.

(a) No political action committee shall accept any contributions or make any expenditures prior to filing notice of its organization with the board of elections. The notice shall contain: (1) The name or names of any candidates whose election or defeat the committee intends to ad…

(a) Whenever the board of elections has reason to believe that a candidate, political party committee, or political action committee, or the campaign treasurer or deputy campaign treasurer of the candidate or committee, has accepted a contribution or made an expenditure in violat…

(a) If the provisions of this chapter or their application to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the chapter which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the p…

Whereas, the general assembly finds that the cost of running for statewide office has risen over the last decade at a rate far in excess of the increase in the cost of living; and Whereas, the general assembly finds that the need to raise ever larger sums of money to effectively …

(a) To effectuate the purpose stated in § 17-25-18, public funds shall be made available under the terms and conditions of this section and §§ 17-25-20 — 17-25-27 to qualifying candidates for general office and primary elections who agree to abide by a limitation on the total amo…

It is declared to be in the public interest and to be the policy of the state to require the reporting of certain contributions received and expenditures made to aid or promote the nomination, election, or defeat of all candidates for public office.

In order to receive matching public funds under § 17-25-19, a qualifying candidate must comply with the following requirements: (1) The candidate must sign a statement under oath, as provided for in § 17-25-19, pledging to comply with the limitations on contributions and expendit…

Any candidate eligible to receive public funds and electing to receive these funds who is challenged for nomination for general office in a political party primary shall be permitted to raise and expend an additional amount of funds equal to one-third (⅓) of the maximum allowable…

(a) In order to receive matching public funds, the candidate must be a candidate for general office who meets all of the requirements set forth in § 17-25-20(6). The candidate must submit to the board of elections proof of receipt of qualifying private contributions and supportin…

For the purposes of §§ 17-25-19 and 17-25-20, any funds expended by a person, committee of a political party, or political action committee to directly influence the outcome of the electoral contest involving the candidate shall be considered a contribution received by or an expe…

Any candidate eligible to receive public funds and electing to receive these funds whose opponent does not elect to receive public funds shall be permitted to raise additional private contributions and make additional expenditures for election purposes in an amount in excess of t…

Any candidate receiving public funds during any election cycle under the provisions of this chapter shall, within ninety (90) days after the completion of the election cycle, transfer to the general treasurer for deposit in the general fund fifty percent (50%) of any amount of th…

Any expenditure jointly made by any two (2) or more candidates for any newspaper, radio, or television advertisement primarily benefiting the candidate shall be attributed to and apportioned equally among those candidates who are clearly identified in that advertisement. The appo…

The board may conduct a post-audit of all accounts and transactions for any election cycle and may conduct any other special audits and post-audits that it may deem necessary. The board shall publish a summary of the reports filed by candidates for general office pursuant to the …

In addition to all other powers and duties established by law, the board of elections is empowered to adopt and enforce rules, regulations, and auditing procedures required to fulfill the mandates of §§ 17-25-19 — 17-25-27. The board is empowered, among other things, to: (1) Asce…

In the event the funds generated by the tax credit of § 44-30-2(d) fail to produce sufficient money to meet the requirements of the public financing of the electoral system as set forth in §§ 17-25-19 — 17-25-27, then funds sufficient to meet the levels of the public financing as…