2025 -- H 5315

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LC000956

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- GENERAL PROVISIONS

     Introduced By: Representative Alex S. Finkelman

     Date Introduced: February 05, 2025

     Referred To: House Finance

     (Board of Elections)

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 17-1-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-1 entitled "General

Provisions" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     17-1-2. Definitions.

     For the purposes this title, except as may otherwise be required by the context:

     (1) “Election” means the filling of any public office or the determination of any public

question by vote of the electorate, and includes without limitation any state, town, or city office or

question, and any political party primary election for the nomination of any candidate for public

office; except that it shall not include a financial town meeting or a meeting to elect officers of a

fire, water, or sewer district;

     (2) "Election official" means any person employed in the administration or conduct of

elections by the state board, board of canvassers or any poll worker, or within the elections division

of the secretary of state. In determining the number of days served by a retired election official the

total number of days served in any year in which a general election is held, as defined in this section,

may be combined for any one year in which a general election is held;

     (2)(3) “General election” means an election held on the first Tuesday next after the first

Monday in November in even numbered years for the election of members of the general assembly

and/or for the election of general officers, and/or for the election of presidential electors for

president/vice-president of the United States;

     (3)(4) “General officer” means an officer designated as a general officer by chapter 2 of

this title;

     (4)(5) “Independent candidate” means a candidate who has no affiliation with any political

party;

     (5)(6) “Local board” means a town or city board of canvassers, board of canvassers and

registration, canvassing authority, or any other local board, commission, or officer empowered by

law to have custody of the permanent registration records;

     (6)(7) “Local election” means any election limited to the electorate of any city or town, or

any part, at which any city, town, ward, or district officers are to be chosen, or any elective meeting

at which a question is to be submitted to the voters of a city, town, or any subdivision of a city or

town, but it shall not include a financial town meeting;

     (7)(8) “Party member” means any person who is a member of a designated political party

pursuant to § 17-9.1-23;

     (8)(9) “Party voter” means any qualified voter who is eligible to vote at the primary election

of a political party;

     (9)(10) “Political party” or “party” means: (i) any political organization which, at the next

preceding general election for the election of general officers, nominated a candidate for governor,

and whose candidate for governor at the election polled at least five percent (5%) of the entire vote

cast in the state for governor, or (ii) any political organization which at the next preceding general

election for the election of a president of the United States nominated a candidate for president and

whose candidate for president at the election polled at least five percent (5%) of the entire vote cast

in the state for president, or (iii) any political organization which, on petition forms provided to the

chairperson of the organization by the state board of elections, obtains the signatures and addresses

of that number of registered qualified voters equal to five percent (5%) of the entire vote cast in the

state for governor or president in the immediately preceding general election. All the signatures

must be obtained no earlier than January 1 of the year in which the political organization desires to

place a candidate or candidates on any ballot as a “party” candidate. If the political organization

wishes to select its nominees in a primary election, the petitions, bearing the requisite number of

valid signatures, shall be presented to the appropriate local boards of canvassers no later than June

1 of the same year. If the petitions are validated by the local boards as containing the requisite

number of valid signatures, the political organization shall be deemed to be a political party for all

elections held during the year and may select its nominees in a primary election. If the political

organization does not wish to select its nominees in a primary election, then the petitions need not

be returned to local boards of canvassers until August 1 of the same year. An organization

qualifying as a political party through the petition process shall qualify as a political party only

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during the year in which signatures are obtained unless the candidates for governor or president of

the United States of the party at a general election held in the year, shall receive five percent (5%)

of the vote as provided in this subdivision for either governor or president of the United States. If

the candidates do not receive five percent (5%) of the vote, the organization shall no longer qualify

as a political party unless and until it shall, in a subsequent year, once again qualify by the

submission of petitions;

     (10)(11) “Polling place” means the room in which any election or elective meeting is

conducted;

     (11)(12) “Primary election” means any election to select the candidates of a political party;

     (12)(13) “Proposition” or “public question” means any question put to a referendum of the

electorate of the entire state or any part of it;

     (13)(14) “Qualified voter” means any person who is eligible to vote under the requirements

of age, residence, and citizenship prescribed by the state constitution and who is duly registered to

vote, or who is exempt from registration, pursuant to this title, and who is not otherwise disqualified

as a voter pursuant to law;

     (14)(15) “Special election” means any election other than a local election or primary

election which is not held on a general election day;

     (15)(16) “State board” means the state board of elections constituted pursuant to this title;

     (16)(17) “State election” means any election at which any presidential electors, senator or

representatives in congress, general officers of the state, or members of the general assembly are to

be chosen, or at which a public question or an amendment to the Constitution is submitted to the

electors of the state;

     (17)(18) “State officer” means the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state,

attorney general, general treasurer, state senator, and state representative;

     (18)(19) “Vacancy in office” means the condition resulting from any failure to elect or

appoint an eligible and qualified person to public office, or the failure of any person duly elected

or appointed to qualify, or from the death, resignation, or removal of an incumbent prior to the

expiration of his or her term of office and where no fixed term is prescribed upon the death,

resignation, or removal;

     (19)(20) “Voting list” means the complete list of all voters prepared from the information

contained in the original permanent registration records in the possession of the local board of

canvassers;

     (20)(21) “Warden” includes “moderator” and vice versa;

     (21)(22)Words importing the masculine gender shall include the feminine gender.

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     SECTION 2. Chapter 17-7 of the General Laws entitled "State Board of Elections" is

hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:

     17-7-6.1. Temporary service of election officials after retirement.

     (a) Any election official as defined pursuant to § 17-1-2, who has retired under the

provisions of any law of this state, may be temporarily employed at the state board for a period of

no more than ninety (90) days in any calendar year in which a general election is held for a statewide

office, or congressional district, or question, or any year in which a special election, as defined in

§ 17-1-2, is held for a statewide office, or congressional district, or question, without any forfeiture

of, or reduction in, the retirement benefits and allowances the election official is receiving, or may

receive, as a retired election official. Notice of the employment shall be sent monthly to the state

retirement board by the state board employing the election official and by the retired election

official at the end of each temporary employment period.

     (b) Any retired election official may be temporarily employed pursuant to subsection (a)

of this section, but in no event shall employment exceed ninety (90) days.

     (c) The calculation of the ninety-day (90) period in any one year shall be determined by

either of the following methods:

     (1) Seven (7) hours shall constitute a full day and the number of full days shall be limited

to ninety (90) days, which shall be the equivalent of ninety (90) full days; or

     (2) Three and a half (3.5) hours shall constitute a half day and the number of half days shall

be limited to one hundred eighty (180) half days, which shall be the equivalent of ninety (90) full

days.

     SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- GENERAL PROVISIONS

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     This act would allow retired election officials to work for the state board of elections on a

temporary basis in any year in which a statewide, congressional or referendum general election is

held.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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