| Chapter 025 |
| 2023 -- H 6185 Enacted 05/18/2023 |
| A N A C T |
| RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- GENERAL PROVISIONS |
Introduced By: Representative Evan P. Shanley |
| Date Introduced: March 22, 2023 |
| It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
| SECTION 1. Section 17-1-7 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-1 entitled "General |
| Provisions" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
| 17-1-7. Uniform deadlines. |
| Notwithstanding any other time specified for the filing of any paper or the doing of any act |
| pursuant to this title, a uniform deadline of 4:00 p.m. is established; provided, that applications for |
| emergency mail ballots must be received by 4:00 p.m. on the day prior to an election or primary. If |
| any filing deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, the deadline shall be construed to fall |
| on the next subsequent business day; provided, that this does not apply to registration to vote thirty |
| (30) days prior to an election or primary, or change of party designation thirty (30) days prior to an |
| election or primary under the requirements of § 17-9.1-24. |
| SECTION 2. Sections 17-14-1, 17-14-1.1, 17-14-11 and 17-14-12 of the General Laws in |
| Chapter 17-14 entitled "Nomination of Party and Independent Candidates" are hereby amended to |
| read as follows: |
| 17-14-1. Declarations of candidacy. |
| During the last consecutive Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in June in the even years |
| and during the thirty-ninth (39th) and fortieth (40th) days preceding a primary election for a special |
| election for state or local office, or for an election for state or local office regularly scheduled for a |
| time other than the biennial general statewide election, or during the sixty-seventh (67th) and sixty- |
| eighth (68th) days preceding a primary election for a special election for federal office, or for an |
| election for federal office regularly scheduled for a time other than the biennial general statewide |
| election, each voter desiring to be a candidate at the upcoming primary or an independent candidate |
| on final nomination papers shall, on a form that shall be provided by the secretary of state, file a |
| declaration of his or her their candidacy not later than four o’clock (4:00) p.m. of the last day for |
| the filing with the secretary of state for congressional and statewide general offices, or with the |
| local board of the place of the candidate’s voting residence for general assembly, or state committee |
| or senatorial and representative district committee, or with the appropriate local board for local |
| officers. The declaration shall be signed by the candidate as his or her the candidate’s name |
| appears on the voting list. The signature shall be accepted as valid if it can be reasonably identified |
| to be the name and signature of the voter it purports to be. A variation of the voter’s signature by |
| the insertion or omission of identifying titles or by the substitution of initials for the first or middle |
| names of of both shall not in itself be grounds for invalidation of the signature. The declaration |
| shall also include the following information: |
| (1) The candidate’s name as it appears on the voting list, subject to the same provisions as |
| relate to the voter’s signature on the declaration; |
| (2) The address as it appears on the voting list, provided that an address which that is |
| substantially the same as the address on the voting list shall be valid; |
| (3) The party declaration if seeking to run in a party primary; |
| (4) The office sought; |
| (5) The place and date of birth; |
| (6) The length of residence in the state and in the town or city where he or she the |
| candidate resides; |
| (7) A certification that he or she the candidate is neither serving a sentence, including |
| probation or parole, for which he or she the candidate was imprisoned upon final conviction of a |
| felony imposed on any date nor serving any sentence, whether incarcerated or suspended, on |
| probation or parole, upon final conviction of a felony committed after November 5, 1986; |
| (8) A certification that he or she the candidate has not been lawfully adjudicated to be non |
| compos mentis, of unsound mind; |
| (9) In the case of candidates for party nomination, a certification that he or she the |
| candidate has not been a member of a political party other than the declared party within ninety |
| (90) days of the filing date, except in the case of candidates for party nomination for a special |
| election for federal office, or for an election for federal office regularly scheduled for a time other |
| than the biennial general statewide election, that person shall not have been a member of a political |
| party other than the declared political party within thirty (30) days of the filing of his or her their |
| declaration of candidacy; and |
| (10) If a person is a candidate for a state or local office, a certification that the person has |
| not within the preceding three (3) years served any sentence, incarcerated or suspended, on |
| probation or parole, for a crime committed after November 5, 1986, upon a plea of nolo contendere |
| or guilty or upon a conviction of a felony or for a misdemeanor for which a sentence of |
| imprisonment for six (6) months or more, whether suspended or to be served as was imposed. |
| 17-14-1.1. Party affiliation. |
| Whenever any person seeks elective office, that person shall not have been a member of a |
| political party other than the declared political party within ninety (90) days of the filing of his or |
| her their declaration of candidacy, except for a special election for federal office, or for an election |
| for federal office regularly scheduled for a time other than the biennial general statewide election, |
| that person shall not have been a member of a political party other than the declared political party |
| within thirty (30) days of the filing of his or her their declaration of candidacy. |
| 17-14-11. Checking and certification of nomination papers — Challenge. |
| Each nomination paper for party and independent candidates shall be submitted before four |
| o’clock (4:00) p.m. on the sixtieth (60th) day before the primary to the local board of the city or |
| town where the signers appear to be voters or, in the case of special elections for state and local |
| office, on the twenty-eighth (28th) day before the primary, or in the case of special elections for |
| federal office, on the fifty-third (53rd) day before the primary. Nomination papers for independent |
| presidential candidates and presidential candidates of political parties, other than those defined in |
| § 17-1-2(9), shall be filed not later than sixty (60) days prior to the general election. Each local |
| board shall immediately proceed to check signatures on each nomination paper filed with it against |
| the voting list as last canvassed or published according to law. The local boards shall certify a |
| sufficient number of names appearing on the nomination papers that are in conformity with the |
| requirements of § 17-14-8 to qualify the candidate for a position on the ballot, and after considering |
| any challenge under this section and, if necessary, certifying any additional valid names, shall |
| immediately file nomination papers for statewide office, general assembly, and state and district |
| committee candidates with the secretary of state; provided, that nomination papers for local |
| candidates shall be retained by the local board. If any candidate or the chairperson of any party |
| committee questions the validity or authenticity of any signature on the nomination paper, the local |
| board shall immediately and summarily decide the question, and for this purpose, shall have the |
| same powers as are conferred upon the board by the provisions of § 17-14-14. If any challenged |
| signature is found to be invalid, for any reason in law, or forged, then the signature shall not be |
| counted. |
| 17-14-12. Filing of nomination papers. |
| All nomination papers for state offices or officers and all certified lists of candidates for |
| local offices or officers shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state (the certified lists by the |
| respective local boards), not later than fifty-four (54) days before the date of the primary held to |
| nominate candidates for general election; but when there is a primary to nominate candidates for |
| any office mentioned in § 17-15-7 to be voted upon at a special election for state and local office, |
| all nomination papers and lists of local candidates shall be filed in the office on or before the twenty- |
| sixth (26th) day preceding the day of the special primary election, or when there is a primary to |
| nominate candidates for any office listed in § 17-15-7 to be voted upon at a special election for |
| federal office, all nomination papers and lists of local candidates shall be filed in the office on or |
| before the forty-nineth (49th) day preceding the day of the special primary election. Nomination |
| papers for independent presidential candidates and presidential candidates of political parties other |
| than those defined in § 17-1-2(9) shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state by the local |
| boards of canvassers not later than fifty-four (54) days before the date of the election. |
| SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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| LC002565 |
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