2024 -- S 2097 | |
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LC004060 | |
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2024 | |
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A N A C T | |
RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- PRIMARIES FOR ELECTION OF DELEGATES TO | |
NATIONAL CONVENTIONS AND FOR PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE | |
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Introduced By: Senators Ciccone, Burke, Felag, Britto, and F. Lombardi | |
Date Introduced: January 12, 2024 | |
Referred To: Senate Judiciary | |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Sections 17-12.1-6 and 17-12.1-7 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-12.1 |
2 | entitled "Primaries for Election of Delegates to National Conventions and for Presidential |
3 | Preference" are hereby amended to read as follows: |
4 | 17-12.1-6. Number of signers required. |
5 | The nomination papers of a candidate for delegate to a national convention shall be signed, |
6 | in the aggregate, by at least one hundred fifty (150) fifty (50) eligible voters. |
7 | 17-12.1-7. Checking and certification of nomination papers. |
8 | (a) Each nomination paper of a candidate for delegate shall be submitted on or before four |
9 | o’clock (4:00) p.m. in the afternoon of the fifty-sixth (56th) fifty-fourth day before the presidential |
10 | preference primary to the local board of the city or town where the signers appear to be voters, and |
11 | the nomination papers shall be checked, processed, and certified to the secretary of state by the |
12 | local boards before four o’clock (4:00) p.m. in the afternoon of the fifty-third (53rd) fiftieth day |
13 | before the presidential preference primary. In addition, each candidate for delegate to a national |
14 | convention may, on or before four o’clock (4:00) p.m. in the afternoon of the forty-ninth (49th) day |
15 | before the presidential primary, submit to the secretary of state documentation from a candidate, as |
16 | set forth in § 17-12.1-4, that he or she has the approval of the candidate for presidential nominee |
17 | or approval from the steering/screening committee to name the candidates’ delegates to be |
18 | identified with him or her. Names of delegates pledged to a presidential candidate who do not |
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1 | receive approval of the candidate for presidential nominee or approval from the steering/screening |
2 | committee to name the candidates’ delegates to be identified with him/her, who are otherwise |
3 | qualified, shall appear on the ballot in accordance with party rules. |
4 | (b) When nomination papers have been duly certified by the appropriate local boards of |
5 | canvassers, they shall be conclusively presumed to be valid, unless written objections to them are |
6 | made as to the eligibility of the candidate or the sufficiency of the nomination papers or the |
7 | signatures on them. All objections shall be filed with the state board of elections by four o’clock |
8 | (4:00) p.m. on the next business day after the last day fixed for local boards to file nomination |
9 | papers with the secretary of state. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the secretary |
10 | of state from disqualifying a candidate based on the determination of the secretary of state that the |
11 | nomination papers or the signatures on them are invalid or insufficient. |
12 | (c) The decision of the state board shall be rendered not later than four o’clock (4:00) p.m. |
13 | on the forty-seventh (47th) day before the presidential preference primary and shall immediately |
14 | be certified by the state board to the secretary of state. |
15 | SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC004060 | |
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EXPLANATION | |
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
OF | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- PRIMARIES FOR ELECTION OF DELEGATES TO | |
NATIONAL CONVENTIONS AND FOR PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE | |
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1 | This act would reduce the number of signatures needed on nomination papers for a |
2 | candidate to be a delegate to a national presidential convention to 50 voters. This act would also |
3 | amend and reduce the number of days before an election for which nomination papers must be |
4 | submitted before a presidential preference primary to 54 days, and would reduce the number of |
5 | days by which the local board of canvassers would need to certify the signatures to the secretary of |
6 | state to 50 days before the presidential preference primary. |
7 | This act would take effect upon passage. |
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