Title 17, Title 17 Title 17

The secretary of state shall be responsible for the arrangement, preparation, printing, and provision of all computer ballots, to be used in conjunction with the optical scan voting equipment authorized pursuant to this title, and sample ballots to be used at any election. The se…

The secretary of state shall prepare, print, and furnish all application forms for absentee, shut-in, and war ballots. The secretary of state shall arrange, print, and distribute all these ballots, together with instruction sheets and the required envelopes, in accordance with th…

(a) Upon application in writing, the secretary of state shall, upon request, furnish prepaid at a reasonable price to be established annually by the secretary and at a reasonable time, to the state chairperson of each political party and to each person proposing to be a duly qual…

Every person receiving the registry lists shall take and subscribe to the following oath: “I understand that the lists requested by me are the property of the state of Rhode Island and (I affirm that I am the state chairperson of the ____ party); (I proposed to be a duly qualifie…

Every person who violates the provisions of §§ 17-6-5 and 17-6-6 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

The secretary of state shall furnish, without charge, to the canvassing authorities of the several cities and towns, lists of registrants pertaining to those respective cities and towns.

All requests for registration lists, and the action taken on those requests by the secretary of state, shall be deemed to be public records and shall be open for inspection during regular business hours.

It is the intent of the general assembly that the board of elections be a board on which all the qualified electors of the state, regardless of their political identification or the lack of it, will be eligible to serve. The governor, in making these appointments, and the senate,…

There shall be, independent of every other department and agency of this state, a board of elections consisting of seven (7) qualified electors of this state, of outstanding honesty and ability and none of whom shall hold any other public office or be employees of persons who hol…

(a) The governor shall forthwith upon June 8, 1979, appoint seven (7) members of initial terms as follows: one member upon initial appointment shall serve for a term of two (2) years; one member upon initial appointment shall serve for a term of four (4) years; one member upon in…

Before entering upon his or her duties, each member of the board shall take an oath of office before the supreme court in which the member shall swear or affirm faithfully and impartially to administer the duties of his or her office without regard to partisan or political consid…

(a) The state board shall have those functions, powers, and duties that are prescribed by this title or otherwise pursuant to law. In the exercise of these functions, powers, and duties, but without limitation to them, the board shall: (1) Exercise general supervision of the admi…

The state board is authorized to appoint a secretary and necessary assistants who shall perform any duties that the board shall designate. The board shall fix the salaries of the secretary and assistants within the amount appropriated for those salaries by the general assembly, a…

The state board shall have a seal, and shall cause the seal to be affixed to all certificates and statements issued by it.

Each member of the state board shall be authorized to administer oaths, and the board, in all cases of every nature pending before it, is authorized and empowered to summon witnesses by subpoena signed by the secretary of the board and to compel these witnesses to attend and test…

The state board of elections shall cause to be posted, in a conspicuous place at all polling locations, a poster stating that voter fraud is a felony with penalties enumerated in §§ 17-23-4 and 17-26-1 and containing the statement: “You must be registered to vote from your actual…

The legislative body of each city and town shall appoint a bipartisan canvassing authority of three (3) qualified electors of the city or town, not more than two (2) of whom shall belong to the same political party, and may appoint two (2) alternate members, not more than one of …

(a) Prior to each local election at which public questions are to be submitted, the local board shall cause to be prominently posted in at least three (3) local public locations and advertised at least once in a newspaper of local circulation, or in lieu of the requirement to pla…

Each member of a local canvassing authority shall be appointed to serve for a term of six (6) years beginning on the first Monday of March succeeding the date of his or her appointment and until his or her successor is elected and qualified. No person shall be appointed or serve …

Each member of a local board shall receive any compensation that may be provided by the governing body of each city or town; provided, that in the several towns where no other provision is made for compensation, each member of the local board shall be paid by that member’s respec…

Each person appointed as a member of a local board shall, before entering upon his or her duties, be sworn to the faithful performance of those duties, and a record of the oath shall be kept by the clerk of the board.

(a) Each canvassing authority shall have and exercise the functions, powers, and duties provided for local boards by this title or by any law not inconsistent with this title. It shall: (1) Select one of its members as presiding officer and another as clerk of the board; provided…

The local boards in the cities of Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Newport, and Warwick shall not retain to their own use any of the fees now allowed by law to recording and certifying officers, but shall charge and collect the statutory fees for any record, certificate, or …

The members of the local boards are severally authorized to administer oaths, and the boards, in all cases of every nature pending before them, are authorized and empowered to summon witnesses by subpoena signed by the clerk of those boards, and to compel these witnesses to atten…

Every person who violates any provision of this chapter, unless another penalty is provided in this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

In addition to duties as otherwise fixed by law, it shall be the duty of the local board to keep open on all election days, from the hour fixed for the opening of the polls until the hour fixed for the closing of the polls, and to remain in session during the hours at a regular p…

(a) The local board or its duly authorized agent shall maintain the files of registration cards in a condition that will correctly represent the registration of qualified voters at all times. It shall continually purge the cards of voters no longer qualified to vote in the city o…

The state board may request any local board to make any correction in any voting list, and if the local board does not immediately comply with the request, the state board may make the correction itself, and this correction shall not be changed except on order of the supreme cour…

Whenever the local board of any town or city at any meeting held for the purpose of canvassing the rights and correcting the lists of voters rejects, or causes to be stricken from the voting list, the name of any person qualified to vote, the person whose name the board has rejec…

Upon the filing of the appeal, the state board of elections shall immediately cause the members and clerk of the local board to appear before the state board, at a time and place to be set by the board.

If, upon a hearing, the state board finds that the name of the appellant is not entitled to be placed or to remain upon the voting list, the appeal shall be dismissed. If, however, the state board finds that the name of the appellant is entitled to be placed upon the voting list,…

The registration, as finally corrected pursuant to this chapter, shall constitute the voting list to be used at the election for which it has been canvassed, and shall be certified for use pursuant to chapter 19 of this title. Only the original of the list needs to be signed by t…

(a) The local board shall remove from the container used for that purpose the original registration cards of persons found by the board not to be qualified to vote at the election for which the registry has been canvassed pursuant to this chapter. These removed cards shall be car…

The local board shall prepare and annex a “challenge list” to each of these canvassed and certified voting lists. The challenge list shall consist of the names and addresses of all persons who are determined to be ineligible to vote in the ensuing election at any time after the f…

When the boundaries of any voting district are changed, it shall be the duty of the local board to correct the registration cards and voting lists and to transfer the cards of the registered voters affected by the change, and to notify the voters by mail, postage prepaid, of the …

Temporary registration certificates may be issued by a local board upon proof by any qualified voter that the voter’s registration card has been erroneously removed from the voting list. The temporary certificates shall be issued under the conditions and in the manner prescribed …

Every person who, at any time, willfully or fraudulently adds a name to a list of voters or erases any name from the list after the list has been corrected for certification pursuant to law, or makes an entry in the registry book or on an original or duplicate card with the inten…

A voter’s registration shall not be invalidated nor the voter’s right to vote be prejudiced by any error in filing registration cards or in the preparation of lists of voters or in making any change or transfer in the records.

Any public officer upon whom a duty is imposed by this chapter or chapter 9.1 of this title, who willfully neglects to perform the duty, shall be guilty of a felony.

The failure of any local board to perform any of its duties required by law shall not affect the validity of an election or a financial town meeting or the right of any person to vote, except as the right to vote may be affected by noncompliance with chapters 1 and 9.1 of this ti…

Every clerk of a local board, upon payment or tender of his or her legal fees, shall furnish to any one demanding it a certified copy of any list of voters whose votes have been given in any election.

Every clerk of a local board shall, upon payment or tender, furnish to any person demanding it a certified copy of any registration of voters, and every town clerk shall also, upon request of any person and tender of legal fees, and without any unreasonable delay, examine the rec…

(a) Immediately after the close of registration for each general election and each primary election for a general election, the local board shall publish and post a preliminary list of all persons who appear from the registration cards to be duly registered to vote at the next en…

Every person who unlawfully takes down, defaces, or destroys any list of voters posted up as provided in § 17-10-3 shall be guilty of a petty misdemeanor.

(a) The local board shall, before the twentieth (20th) day preceding each election, meet and canvass the preliminary lists and hear objections to the inclusion or omission of any person as a registered voter, and it shall at that time make a final canvass and correction of the re…

Any qualified elector shall have the right to appear before the local board on the date set for final canvass and give evidence concerning the correctness of the preliminary registration list. Upon the basis of all the evidence, the local board shall make any further corrections …