2015 -- H 5951

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LC001971

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2015

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- MAIL BALLOTS

     

     Introduced By: Representatives Craven, and Morin

     Date Introduced: March 19, 2015

     Referred To: House Judiciary

     (Board of Elections)

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

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     SECTION 1. Section 17-20-27 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-20 entitled "Mail

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Ballots" is hereby amended to read as follows:

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     17-20-27. Sealing of ballots and voting list. -- The state board shall, at the completion of

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the count of all votes cast at any election, securely store all ballots cast in the election, and after

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the certification of the results of the elections, the state board shall place all ballots received from

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mail voters together with the certified envelopes containing the ballots in a steel box or package

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and shall seal the ballots and envelopes in open meetings of the board by affixing at least four (4)

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adhesive labels, and the members of the board shall sign the labels by affixing their signatures in

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ink to each of the labels, and thereafter no steel box or package shall upon any pretense be

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reopened by any person, except upon order of the general assembly or a court of competent

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jurisdiction, but shall be held by the board until the first day of September in the second (2nd)

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year after the ballots were cast for twenty-two (22) months , when they may then be destroyed.

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The certified copies of the voting lists of mail voters and the applications referred to in ยง 17-20-

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10 shall likewise be safely sealed and kept by the board for the same length of time.

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     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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LC001971

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- MAIL BALLOTS

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     This act would change the period of time that the board of elections must keep mail

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ballots from the first day of September in the second year after they were cast to a period of

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twenty-two (22) months after the election.

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     This act would take effect upon passage.

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