Chapter
460
2006 -- H 7531 AS AMENDED
Enacted 07/07/06
A N A C T
RELATING
TO ELECTIONS -- PRIMARIES
Introduced
By: Representatives Lewiss, Corvese, Kennedy, Pacheco, and Church
Date
Introduced: February 16, 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Elections" is hereby repealed in its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. -- (a) 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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LC02221
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