2022 -- S 2258 | |
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LC004133 | |
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022 | |
____________ | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- NOMINATION OF PARTY AND INDEPENDENT | |
CANDIDATES -- DECLARATION OF CANDIDACY AND PRIMARY VOTES | |
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Introduced By: Senators Raptakis, DiPalma, Murray, Archambault, F Lombardi, | |
Date Introduced: February 11, 2022 | |
Referred To: Senate Judiciary | |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Sections 17-14-1, 17-14-11 and 17-14-12 of the General Laws in Chapter 17- |
2 | 14 entitled "Nomination of Party and Independent Candidates" are hereby amended to read as |
3 | follows: |
4 | 17-14-1. Declarations of candidacy. |
5 | During the last consecutive Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in June April in the even |
6 | years and during the thirty-ninth (39th) and fortieth (40th) days preceding a primary election for a |
7 | special election, or for an election regularly scheduled for a time other than the biennial general |
8 | statewide election, each voter desiring to be a candidate at the upcoming primary or an independent |
9 | candidate on final nomination papers shall, on a form that shall be provided by the secretary of |
10 | state, file a declaration of his or her candidacy not later than four (4:00) p.m. of the last day for the |
11 | filing with the secretary of state for congressional and statewide general offices, or with the local |
12 | board of the place of the candidate's voting residence for general assembly, or state committee or |
13 | senatorial and representative district committee or with the appropriate local board for local |
14 | officers. The declaration shall be signed by the candidate as his or her name appears on the voting |
15 | list. The signature shall be accepted as valid if it can be reasonably identified to be the name and |
16 | signature of the voter it purports to be. A variation of the voter's signature by the insertion or |
17 | omission of identifying titles or by the substitution of initials for the first or middle names of both |
18 | shall not in itself be grounds for invalidation of the signature. The declaration shall also include the |
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1 | following information: |
2 | (1) The candidate's name as it appears on the voting list, subject to the same provisions as |
3 | relate to the voter's signature on the declaration; |
4 | (2) The address as it appears on the voting list, provided that an address which is |
5 | substantially the same as the address on the voting list shall be valid; |
6 | (3) The party declaration if seeking to run in a party primary; |
7 | (4) The office sought; |
8 | (5) The place and date of birth; |
9 | (6) The length of residence in the state and in the town or city where he or she resides; |
10 | (7) A certification that he or she is neither serving a sentence, including probation or parole, |
11 | for which he or she was imprisoned upon final conviction of a felony imposed on any date nor |
12 | serving any sentence, whether incarcerated or suspended, on probation or parole, upon final |
13 | conviction of a felony committed after November 5, 1986; |
14 | (8) A certification that he or she has not been lawfully adjudicated to be non compos |
15 | mentis, of unsound mind; |
16 | (9) In the case of candidates for party nomination, a certification that he or she has not been |
17 | a member of a political party other than the declared party within ninety (90) days of the filing date; |
18 | and |
19 | (10) If a person is a candidate for a state or local office, a certification that the person has |
20 | not within the preceding three (3) years served any sentence, incarcerated or suspended, on |
21 | probation or parole, for a crime committed after November 5, 1986, upon a plea of nolo contendere |
22 | or guilty or upon a conviction of a felony or for a misdemeanor for which a sentence of |
23 | imprisonment for six (6) months or more, whether suspended or to be served as imposed. |
24 | 17-14-11. Checking and certification of nomination papers -- Challenge. |
25 | Each nomination paper for party and independent candidates shall be submitted before four |
26 | o'clock (4:00) p.m. on the sixtieth (60th) day before the primary to the local board of the city or |
27 | town where the signers appear to be voters or, in the case of special elections, on the twenty-eighth |
28 | (28th) day before the primary. Nomination papers for independent presidential candidates and |
29 | presidential candidates of political parties, other than those defined in § 17-1-2(9), shall be filed |
30 | not later than sixty (60) ninety (90) days prior to the general election. Each local board shall |
31 | immediately proceed to check signatures on each nomination paper filed with it against the voting |
32 | list as last canvassed or published according to law. The local boards shall certify a sufficient |
33 | number of names appearing on the nomination papers that are in conformity with the requirements |
34 | of § 17-14-8 to qualify the candidate for a position on the ballot, and after considering any challenge |
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1 | under this section and, if necessary, certifying any additional valid names, shall immediately file |
2 | nomination papers for statewide office, general assembly, and state and district committee |
3 | candidates with the secretary of state; provided, that nomination papers for local candidates shall |
4 | be retained by the local board. If any candidate or the chairperson of any party committee questions |
5 | the validity or authenticity of any signature on the nomination paper, the local board shall |
6 | immediately and summarily decide the question, and for this purpose, shall have the same powers |
7 | as are conferred upon the board by the provisions of § 17-14-14. If any challenged signature is |
8 | found to be invalid, for any reason in law, or forged, then the signature shall not be counted. |
9 | 17-14-12. Filing of nomination papers. |
10 | All nomination papers for state offices or officers and all certified lists of candidates for |
11 | local offices or officers shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state (the certified lists by the |
12 | respective local boards), not later than fifty-four (54) eighty-four (84) days before the date of the |
13 | primary held to nominate candidates for general election; but when there is a primary to nominate |
14 | candidates for any office mentioned in § 17-15-7 to be voted upon at a special election, all |
15 | nomination papers and lists of local candidates shall be filed in the office on or before the twenty- |
16 | sixth (26th) day preceding the day of the special primary election. Nomination papers for |
17 | independent presidential candidates and presidential candidates of political parties other than those |
18 | defined in § 17-1-2(9) shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state by the local boards of |
19 | canvassers not later than fifty-four (54) days before the date of the election. |
20 | SECTION 2. Section 17-15-1 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-15 entitled "Primary |
21 | Elections" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
22 | 17-15-1. Date of primaries. |
23 | A primary election for the nomination of candidates for each political party shall be held |
24 | in each voting district in the manner provided in this chapter, on the eighth second Tuesday |
25 | preceding biennial state elections after the first Monday in September in each even numbered year. |
26 | SECTION 3. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2023. |
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LC004133 | |
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EXPLANATION | |
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
OF | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- NOMINATION OF PARTY AND INDEPENDENT | |
CANDIDATES -- DECLARATION OF CANDIDACY AND PRIMARY VOTES | |
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1 | This act would set an earlier deadline from June to April for the filing of declaration of |
2 | candidacy and nomination papers. |
3 | This act would take effect on January 1, 2023. |
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LC004133 | |
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