Chapter
315
2006 -- S 2780 SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 07/04/06
A N A
C T
RELATING TO ELECTIONS
-- PRIMARIES
Introduced By: Senator
Michael J. McCaffrey
Date Introduced: February
14, 2006
It is
enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION
1. Sections 17-15-21 and 17-15-26 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-15
entitled
"Primary Elections" are hereby amended to read as follows:
17-15-21.
Identification of party voters. -- Before permitting any person to vote
in a
primary election,
the warden or clerk and bipartisan pair of supervisors assigned by the warden
shall
ascertain from the voting record appearing on the certified voting list that
the voter is not
disqualified
to vote by the provisions of section 17-15-24. The ballot applications used
by the
party
voters of each party shall be of a distinctive color. The clerk bipartisan pair of supervisors
shall
provide the voter with the corresponding computer ballot for the primary
election in which
the
voter is eligible and desiring to vote. The warden shall take any steps that
may be necessary to
assure
that each voter is given the computer ballot upon which the voter is eligible
to vote.
17-15-26.
Challenge as to right to vote -- Affidavit. Challenge of identity as to
right
to
vote – Whenever the identity
of any person offering to vote is challenged at the polling place,
that
person shall be permitted to vote only by using a provisional ballot as defined
in section 17-
19-24.1. Any primary official or any watcher may challenge
the right of any person offering
himself
or herself to vote at the primary; and upon the challenge being made, the
warden shall
require
that person, before allowing the challenged person to vote, to make and sign an
affidavit
that
the person is a member of the party of which the person claims to be a member,
and that the
person
is not disqualified by reason of the provisions of section 17-15-24. The state
board shall
prepare
the forms for these affidavits, and furnish the warden with a sufficient number
of them,
and
three (3) or more copies of them shall be posted up in conspicuous places at
the voting place
so
that persons offering themselves to vote at the primary may have an opportunity
to see and
read
them.
SECTION
2. Section 17-15-23 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-15 entitled "Primary
Elections"
is hereby repealed in its entirety.
17-15-23.
Affidavit and examination of voter not listed. -- Any voter
finding that his or
her
name is not on the certified voting list to be used at the primary election may
make an
affidavit
before the local board, each member or employee of which is empowered to take
his or
her
affidavit, that he or she is not disqualified from participating in the primary
election under the
provisions
of section 17-15-24. The board may examine the voter, and if it finds that the
voter is
qualified
to vote in the primary, the voter shall, upon making the affidavit provided for
in this
section,
be allowed to vote either at the local board or at the polling place for the
voting district in
which
the voter resides. In the latter case, the local board shall issue a temporary
registration
certificate
as provided in section 17-10-18. Local boards shall be required to be
continuously in
session
during the hours assigned for voting in the town or city.
SECTION
3. Sections 17-19-24, 17-19-25 and 17-19-27 of the General Laws in Chapter
17-19
entitled "Conduct of Election and Voting Equipment, and Supplies" are
hereby amended to
read as
follows:
17-19-24.
Procedure for voting. -- (a) Each person desiring to vote shall state
his or her
name and
residence, including that person's street address, if he or she has any, to one
of the first
pair of
bi-partisan supervisors, who shall then announce the name and residence in a
loud and
distinct
voice, clear and audible. As each voter's name is announced, the voter shall
be handed a
ballot
application in the following form:
BALLOT
APPLICATION
(Poll
List)
Senatorial District __________
Representative District ______
Voting District ____________
Election
Date ________________
I
hereby certify that I am a registered and qualified elector in the above voting
district of
City
of
and
hereby make application for ballots to be voted at this election.
________________
(Signature of Voter)
_________________
(Residence Address)
Number Approved_________________
__________________
(Supervisor of Election)
(b) The
voter shall sign the application in the presence and view of a A
bipartisan pair.
They shall locate the voter's
name on the certified voting list for the voting district. Upon finding
the voter's name on the certified voting list
for the district, they the voter shall sign their name on
the line next to their
printed name on the certified voter list, and the bipartisan pair shall initial the
ballot application certified voter list
in the place provided next to the word "Approved" and shall
voter's signature entered on the certified
list of voters. The bipartisan pair shall also make a proper
notation on the certified voter list
that the applicant has voted in the election. If the bipartisan pair
cannot locate the voter's
name on the certified voting list for the voting district the bipartisan pair
shall direct the voter to
the clerk who shall review the certified list for the city or town and
determine if the voter is
registered to vote and in which voting district they are eligible to vote.
They
shall then return the ballot application to the voter who shall pass down the
line and
present
it to the clerk. After the voter has handed the approved ballot application to
the clerk, the
clerk
shall provide the voter with the appropriate computer ballot and security
sleeve, The
bipartisan
pair of supervisors shall provide the voter with the appropriate computer
ballot and
security
sleeve. tThe warden
shall direct the voter to the voting booth which the voter shall use,
and
unless the voter needs instruction or assistance as provided in this chapter,
the voter shall cast
his or
her vote, and if he or she desires place the voted computer ballot in a
security sleeve, and
shall
proceed to the optical scan precinct count unit and shall personally place his
or her voted
ballot
into the designated ballot slot on the unit, and after doing so, shall leave
the enclosure at
once. No
voter shall remain within the voting booth longer than ten (10) minutes, and if
the voter
refuses
to leave after the lapse of ten (10) minutes, the voter shall be removed from
the voting
booth by
order of the warden. Except for the election officials and the election
inspector, not
more
than two (2) voters in excess of the number of voting booths shall be permitted
within the
enclosed
space at any time. (c) The optical scan precinct count unit shall be programmed
to
return a
ballot to the voter if the voter has cast votes for more persons than which he
or she is
entitled
to cast. The warden, by reading the message given on the optical scan precinct
count unit,
must
advise the voter of the fact that the ballot has been over-voted. The voter
will be instructed
by the
warden to remove his or her own ballot from the optical scan precinct count
unit ballot
slot.
The warden will then ask the voter to surrender the ballot as void and receive
a new ballot. If
the
voter agrees, the voter will make additional marks on the ballot so as not to
identify the actual
votes
intended by the voter for the ballot. The ballot will be marked void by the
warden and
deposited
in the receptacle for void ballots provided at the polling place. If the voter
insists on
casting
the over-voted ballot, he or she will be advised that all races, other than the
over-voted
race,
will be counted by the optical scan precinct count unit, and if he or she still
insists, the
warden
will manually override the appropriate control on the unit and allow for the
ballot to be
entered
and counted for all races other than the over-voted race. (d) In the event a
voter
incorrectly
marks a ballot by indicating his or her choices other than in the spaces
provided for
them,
the ballot will be returned to the voter. The warden, by reading the message given
on the
optical
scan precinct count unit, must advise the voter of the fact that the ballot has
been marked
incorrectly.
The voter will be instructed by the warden to remove his or her own ballot from
the
optical
scan precinct unit ballot slot. The warden will then advise the voter to
surrender the ballot
as void
and receive a new ballot. If the voter agrees, the voter will make additional
marks on the
ballot
so as not to identify the actual votes intended by the voter for the ballot.
The ballot will be
marked
void by the warden and deposited in the receptacle for void ballots provided at
the polling
place.
The warden will then provide for the instruction of the voter on the correct
manner of
marking
his or her vote and the voter will be issued a new ballot. If the voter insists
on casting the
incorrectly
marked ballot, the warden will manually override the appropriate control on the
optical
scan precinct count unit and allow for the ballot to be accepted.
17-19-25.
Certified voting list -- Duty of bipartisan supervisor. -- As
each ballot
application
is presented to the clerk during the course of the identification of voters,
the clerk
shall
place it on a spindle or within a binder or container to be provided for that
purpose by the
state
board. Immediately upon the close of
the polls, the clerk bipartisan pair of supervisors shall
securely
bind, tie, or seal all of the ballot applications so preserved, certified
voting list in the
manner
that shall be required by the state board, and the clerk supervisors
shall affix thereon his
or
her their certificate under
oath that the ballot applications marks within the certified voting
list
next
to each voter's name comprise one for
each person who was permitted to pass before the
warden and
to cast a vote at the election, and that to the best of his or her knowledge
and belief no
person
voted at the election who did not sign one of the within ballot applications
the certified
voter
list, and that each of the persons was
identified in the manner provided by law before being
permitted
to vote. The clerk bipartisan pair of supervisors shall then hand
give the binder or
container
of ballot applications certified
voter list to the warden, who shall deliver them the list to
the
local board together with the container or containers or registration cards
affidavits and
materials used at the election.
17-19-27.
Affidavit as to identity of voter challenged -- Penalty for false affidavit.
–
Challenge
of identity as to right to vote. --
Whenever the identity of any person offering to
vote is
challenged at the polling place, that person shall be permitted to vote only using
a
provisional
ballot as defined in section 17-19-24.1.
upon making and filing with the warden an
affidavit
in substantially the following form:
Under
the penalty prescribed by law I hereby make affidavit that I am
________________________________________
(here insert name) whose name appears upon
the
voting list certified for use at the polling place in voting district
______________ of the city
(or
town) of ________________, senatorial district ________________, representative
district
________________,
on the ________________ day of ______________ A.D. 20______, and
that
the above name under which I offer to vote is my own name.
________________________________ (Signature) Subscribed and sworn to on this
________________________________
day of ____________________________________ A.D.
20
______, before me
________________________________
Warden Witness:
________________________________
(b)
Any person required to sign the affidavit described in subsection (a) of this
section
shall
step out of line so that others may vote and the warden shall, at that time,
fill out the
affidavit
and a copy and permit that person to read and sign it and shall administer the
oath as
required
under this section, for which purpose every warden is empowered to administer,
and to
attest
it with his or her signature in proof of the administration of the oath. The
designated
election
official appointed on behalf of the opposite political party to that of the
warden shall
witness
the voter's signature and shall sign his or her own name in the appropriate
space. The
original
affidavit shall be retained by the warden and the copy shall be handed to the
voter, who
shall
immediately be permitted to vote. (c) At the closing of the polls, the warden
shall seal up
the
affidavits and cause them to be delivered to the local board together with the voting
lists. (d)
Every
person who makes a false affidavit under this section shall be guilty of a
felony.
SECTION
4. Sections 17-19-28 and 17-19-29 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-19
entitled
"Conduct of Election and Voting Equipment, and Supplies" are hereby
repealed in their
entirety.
17-19-28.
Temporary registration certificates. -- (a) Any person whose
name is not on
the
certified voting list for the city or town in which the voter resides and who
claims a right to
vote
may apply to the local board for a certificate entitling that person to vote.
Upon receipt of
any
application for a certificate, accompanied by proof of the identity of the
applicant, the local
board
shall inspect the registry records retained in the office of the board, and if
the inspection
discloses
that the applicant is qualified to vote at the election, the board shall issue
to the
applicant
its certificate, duly signed manually by the board or a member of the board, a
copy of
which
shall be retained by the board, addressed to the warden of the voting district
in which the
applicant
is found to be qualified to vote, and the certificate shall be marked
"Temporary
certificate
of registration" and shall have the same force and effect as the inclusion
of the
applicant's
name on the certified voting list. The certificate shall be presented to the
warden and,
when
presented, may be examined by the warden and by a designated election official
appointed
on
behalf of the opposite political party. It shall then be retained by the warden
and returned to
the
board at the time prescribed for the return of the certified voting list.
(b) At the time that a temporary certificate is issued by the local board, a
proper record
of
this action shall be made and signed by the members of the board who ordered
the issuance of
the
certificate.
(c) At the same time a voter receives a temporary certificate, the board shall
prepare a
new
registration card or cards, if necessary, containing the same information shown
by the
registry
records, which shall be executed and signed as provided in section 17-9.1-6;
and if at any
other
time a registration card of any person is not found and the local board
determines that the
person
was duly registered or is entitled to be registered, new registration cards, if
necessary,
shall
be completed in the same manner.
17-19-29.
Certificates and affidavits as public records. -- The temporary
registration
certificates
issued pursuant to section 17-19-28, and the affidavits delivered to the local
board
pursuant
to section 17-19-27, are declared to be public records and shall be open to
public
inspection
at all reasonable times.
SECTION
5. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC01751/SUB A
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