2025 -- S 0152

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LC000404

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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 -- PRIMARIES FOR ELECTION OF DELEGATES TO

NATIONAL CONVENTIONS AND FOR PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE

     Introduced By: Senators Lawson, and Bissaillon

     Date Introduced: January 31, 2025

     Referred To: Senate Judiciary

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 17-12.1-2, 17-12.1-4, 17-12.1-8, 17-12.1-9, 17-12.1-11, 17-12.1-12,

17-12.1-14 and 17-12.1-16 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-12.1 entitled "Primaries for Election

of Delegates to National Conventions and for Presidential Preference" are hereby amended to read

as follows:

     17-12.1-2. Number of delegates to be elected — Method of election.

     (a) At each primary there shall be elected for each congressional district of this state the

number of delegates and alternates that shall be determined by the national committee of the party

and certified to the secretary of state not later than the first Tuesday in January preceding the

primary by the state committee of the party. The method of election of candidates for delegate shall

be in accordance with party rules certified to the secretary of state by the chairperson of the state

committee on or before the first Tuesday in January of each year a primary is to be held pursuant

to this chapter.

     (b) The presidential preference primary shall be conducted using ranked choice voting as

set forth in this chapter. The notice provided by the chairperson of a state committee under

subsection (a) of this section shall indicate whether the party prefers the presidential preference

primary tabulation to occur on a winner-take-all basis, in accordance with § 17-12.1-17(b), or on a

proportional basis, in accordance with § 17-12.1-17(c). The notice shall further indicate how

delegates are to be allocated and on what geographical basis delegates are to be allocated, whether

statewide, by congressional district, by other geographic unit, or a combination thereof. If the party

requests tabulation on a proportional basis, the chairperson shall indicate what the applicable

threshold for receiving delegates in the presidential preference primary will be. If a party fails to

specify how to tabulate ballots, the presidential preference primary election for that party shall be

tabulated on a statewide winner-take-all basis, in accordance with § 17-12.1-17(b).

     (c) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to preclude a political party from allocating

delegates, according to its own rules for allocating such delegates.

     17-12.1-4. Presidential candidates.

     (a) Any person seeking the endorsement of a national political party for which a primary

is being held shall, during the ninety-fourth (94th) through and including the ninety-sixth (96th)

day preceding the presidential preference primary being held, provide written notification to the

secretary of state of his or her intention to run in the presidential preference primary. When the

deadline falls on a Saturday, said written notification may be filed with the secretary of state on

that Saturday until noon (12:00) p.m. The notification shall include the candidate’s name and

address and a statement affirming their eligibility, under the laws and Constitution of the United

States, to serve, if elected, in the office of President of the United States. The notification shall also

include the name and contact information of the designee authorized by the presidential candidate

to act in his/her stead in Rhode Island.

     (b)(1) Upon receipt of the notification referred to in subsection (a) of this section, the

secretary of state shall, by six o’clock (6:00) p.m. on the same day, prepare petition papers for

candidates who are eligible to serve in the office of President of the United States, clearly marked

with the candidate’s name, party designation, and the office the candidate seeks; provided,

however, that for notifications filed on a Saturday deadline by noon (12:00) p.m., petition papers

shall be prepared by two o’clock (2:00) p.m. on that Saturday.

     (2) The petition papers of a candidate for president shall be signed, in the aggregate, by at

least one thousand (1,000) eligible voters and shall be submitted on or before four o’clock (4:00)

p.m. in the afternoon of the eighty-second (82nd) day before the presidential preference primary to

the local board of the city or town where the signers appear to be voters, and the petition papers

shall be checked, processed, and certified to the secretary of state by the local boards before four

o’clock (4:00) p.m. in the afternoon of the sixty-ninth (69th) day before the presidential preference

primary. When nomination papers have been duly certified by the appropriate local boards of

canvassers, they shall be conclusively presumed to be valid, unless written objections to them are

made as to the eligibility of the candidate or the sufficiency of the nomination papers or the

signatures on them. All objections shall be filed with the state board of elections by four o’clock

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(4:00) p.m. on the next business day after the last day fixed for local boards to file nomination

papers with the secretary of state. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the secretary

of state from disqualifying a candidate based on the determination of the secretary of state that the

nomination papers or the signatures on them are invalid or insufficient.

     (c) The decision of the state board shall be rendered not later than four o’clock (4:00) p.m.

on the sixty-third (63rd) day before the presidential preference primary and shall immediately be

certified by the state board to the secretary of state.

     (d) If any candidate for presidential nomination does not qualify for ballot placement, the

names of delegates committed to this disqualified presidential candidate, who are otherwise

qualified, shall appear on the ballot in accordance with party rules.

     (e) If any candidate whose name has been announced as a presidential nominee does not

thereafter wish his or her name to appear on the ballot, the candidate shall, at least sixty-three (63)

days prior to the date for the primary, file an affidavit with the secretary of state stating his or her

name may not be placed on the ballot and the secretary of state shall not place that candidate’s

name on the ballot. Said affidavit must be signed by the presidential candidate or his or her designee

on file with the office of the secretary of state. Names of delegates committed to the withdrawn

such candidate, who are otherwise qualified, shall appear on the ballot in accordance with party

rules.

     (f) If any candidate, whose name already appears on the ballot as a presidential nominee,

chooses to withdraw from consideration prior to the date established for the presidential preference

primary election, that candidate shall file a signed letter of withdrawal with their national and state

party chairpersons, in compliance with any applicable party rules that may exist governing the

timing, procedures, or substance of candidate withdrawals or suspensions. The candidate shall

further file an affidavit with the secretary of state stating that the candidate is a withdrawn candidate

and wishes to be treated as an inactive candidate in the tabulation conducted under § 17-12.1-17.

The affidavit shall be signed by the presidential candidate or the candidate's designee on file with

the office of the secretary of state.

     17-12.1-8. Presidential preference primary.

     (a) On the same date and at the same time as the election of delegates to national

conventions, as provided in § 17-12.1-1, there shall be held a presidential preference primary for

each political party at which each party voter shall have one vote with the opportunity to vote rank

his or her preference their preferences for his or her choice for one person which candidate should

to be the candidate presidential nominee of his or her the voter's party for president of the United

States. The voter shall also have the ability to rank "uncommitted" among the voter's preferences.

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     (b) The secretary of state shall place on the ballot the name of all persons qualified as

candidates for presidential nominee as provided in § 17-12.1-4, and who have not filed with the

secretary of state the affidavit as provided in § 17-12.1-4(e). The lists of candidates for delegate

shall be placed on a separate portion of the ballot and shall be grouped by and clearly indicate

which candidate for presidential nominee approved of the individual's candidacy, and shall list

under the name of each candidate for presidential nominee, arranged by lot, the names of all

candidates for delegates to a national convention who submitted the approval of the candidate for

presidential nominee as set forth in § 17-12.1-7. All other candidates for delegates to a national

convention shall be listed on the ballot, arranged by lot, as uncommitted, unless otherwise specified

in party rules.

     17-12.1-9. Voting for nominees and delegates — Designation of winning delegates.

     Each voter shall vote rank, within that voter’s party presidential preference primary, the

voter's preferences among for the presidential nominees of that voter’s choice or and may express

that voter’s choice for no nominee in a space provided and among those preferences, a ranking

designated “uncommitted.”

     (b) Each voter shall vote, within that voter's party delegate election primary and for any or

all of the number of elected delegates allocated to Rhode Island by the respective national

committees.

     (c) The number of delegates and the designation of the winning delegates shall be

determined pursuant to the rules of the political party filed with the secretary of state as provided

by this chapter.

     17-12.1-11. Form of ballot.

     (a) The order on the ballot, subject to final determination of any objections filed with the

board of elections and the removal of said individual(s) by the secretary of state post-lot, of the

presidential nominees and delegates and the uncommitted delegates shall be chosen by lot under

the direction of the secretary of state.

     (b) Individuals committed to a particular presidential candidate or uncommitted shall

appear in a manner so that the candidates for delegates shall be readily identified with the

presidential candidate to whom they are committed or shall appear in a manner that clearly shows

they are uncommitted.

     (c) No person shall appear on the ballot as a candidate for delegate more than once.

     (d) There shall be nothing on the ballot to indicate or suggest any political party

endorsement.

     (e) The secretary of state shall prepare and arrange the ballot for use in the primaries

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authorized in this title, which shall include, as to the candidates for delegates, the person to whom

the candidates are committed and any other information and instruction that the secretary of state

shall deem necessary.

     (f) The ballot shall allow voters to rank five (5) qualified presidential candidates in order

of choice.

     17-12.1-12. Definitions.

     For the purposes of this chapter the following terms have the meaning indicated as follows:

     (1) "Active candidate" means any candidate who has not been eliminated during tabulation

or has not withdrawn as a candidate, within the meaning of § 17-12.1-12(8).

     (2) "Highest-ranked active candidate" means the active candidate assigned to a higher

ranking than any other active candidates on a ballot.

     (1)(3) “Political party” is defined as provided in § 17-1-2(9).

     (4) "Ranking order" means the number available to be assigned by a voter to a candidate

to express the voter's choice for that candidate. The number "1" is the highest ranking order,

followed by "2" and then "3" and so on.

     (5) "Round" means an instance of the sequence of voting tabulation described in § 17-12.1-

17(b) for winner-take-all selection of delegates or § 17-12.1-17(c) for proportional selection of

delegates.

     (6) "Threshold for receiving delegates" means the percentage of votes for active candidates

necessary for a presidential candidate to receive delegates in a presidential preference primary

election, conducted in accordance with § 17-12.1-17(c).

     (2)(7) “Uncommitted” means a candidate for delegate not approved by, obligated, or

committed to any particular presidential contender.

     (8) "Withdrawn candidate" means any candidate who filed all requisite letters or affidavits,

required under § 17-12.1-4(f).

     17-12.1-14. Recount.

     (a) Upon application, the state board of elections shall conduct a recount for a presidential

candidate or delegate for a winning candidate when there is a two hundred (200) or less vote

difference in the final round of tabulation between the losing candidate or delegate and the winner.

     (b) Upon application, the state board of elections shall conduct a recount for a delegate for

a winning presidential candidate, when there is a two hundred (200) or less vote difference between

the losing delegate and the winner.

     (c) A recount under subsection (a) or (b) of this section Said recount shall be conducted by

re-reading the programmed memory device or devices and comparing the results and totals obtained

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at such recount with the results and totals obtained on election night.

     (b)(d) The state board shall have the authority to adopt rules and regulations to implement

and administer the provisions of this section.

     17-12.1-16. Applicability. Applicability and severability.

     (a) The appropriate provisions of this title shall apply to the primaries held under the

provisions of this chapter, unless clearly inconsistent with this chapter.

     (b) If any provision of this chapter, or the application of any provision of this chapter to

any person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this chapter and the

application of its provisions to any person or circumstance shall not be affected by the holding.

     SECTION 2. Chapter 17-12.1 of the General Laws entitled "Primaries for Election of

Delegates to National Conventions and for Presidential Preference" is hereby amended by adding

thereto the following sections:

     17-12.1-17. Ranked choice voting tabulation.

     (a) In any state-administered presidential preference primary election for president of the

United States, conducted using ranked choice voting, each ballot shall count as one vote for the

highest-ranked active candidate on that ballot. Withdrawn candidates shall be treated the same as

candidates who have been eliminated from tabulation. A ranking of "uncommitted" shall be treated

the same, as a ranking containing a candidate.

     (b) If a party awards delegates to a single candidate on a winner-take-all basis, tabulation

shall proceed in rounds as follows:

     (1) If there are more than two (2) active candidates, the active candidate with the fewest

votes is eliminated, and votes for the eliminated candidate are counted for each ballot's next-ranked

active candidate.

     (2) If there are two (2) or fewer candidates, tabulation is complete.

     (c) If a party awards delegates to multiple candidates on a proportional basis, tabulation

shall proceed in rounds as follows:

     (1) If the vote total of any active candidate is below the party's threshold for receiving

delegates set under § 17-12.1-2(b), the active candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and

votes for the eliminated candidate are counted for each ballot's next-ranked active candidate.

     (2) If the vote total of every active candidate is above the party's threshold for receiving

delegates, tabulation is complete.

     (d) The following rules shall apply to the treatment of ballots during tabulation:

     (1) An undervote is a ballot that does not rank any candidates in a particular contest. An

undervote does not count as an active or inactive ballot in any round of tabulation of that contest.

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     (2) An inactive ballot is a ballot that ceases in a round of tabulation to count for any

candidate for the remainder of the tabulation of the contest because either:

     (i) All candidates ranked on the ballot have become inactive; or

     (ii) The ballot includes an overvote and any candidates ranked higher than the overvote

have become inactive. An overvote occurs when a voter ranks more than one candidate at the same

ranking.

     (3) During tabulation, a ballot shall remain active and continue to count for its highest-

ranked active candidate notwithstanding any skipped or repeated rankings on the ballot. A skipped

ranking occurs when a voter leaves a ranking unassigned but ranks a candidate at a subsequent

ranking. A repeated ranking occurs when a voter ranks the same candidate at multiple rankings.

     (e) If two (2) or more candidates are tied with the fewest votes and tabulation cannot

continue until the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, then the candidate to be eliminated

shall be determined by lot. Election officials may resolve prospective ties between candidates prior

to tabulation. The result of any tie resolution shall be recorded and reused in the event of a recount.

     (f) When the secretary of state certifies the results of the election, the secretary shall certify

the results of each round tabulated pursuant to subsection (b) or (c), as applicable, along with any

other information required under § 17-12.1-18, to the state chairperson and the national committee

of each political party that had at least one candidate on the state-administered presidential primary

election ballot to allocate national delegate votes in accordance with the party's state and national

rules.

     17-12.1-18. Results reporting.

     (a) The secretary of state shall promulgate rules or guidance to facilitate the release of

unofficial preliminary results after the polls close, including:

     (1) Round-by-round results, which shall be:

     (i) First released as soon as a reasonable number of precincts have reported but in no event

later than 11:59 PM on election night;

     (ii) Periodically released at regular intervals until the counting of ballots is complete; and

     (iii) Clearly labeled as preliminary and include the number of counted and uncounted

ballots to date; and

     (2) Ballot-level ranking data on a contest-by-contest basis, which shall be:

     (i) Released no later than the counting of ballots is complete,

     (ii) Published online in a machine-readable, open format that can be retrieved, downloaded,

indexed, sorted, and searched by commonly used Internet search applications and commonly used

open format software;

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     (iii) Identifiable by precinct to the extent such identification is feasible and can be provided

consistent with the need to maintain voter privacy; and

     (iv) Clearly labeled as preliminary.

     (3) In adopting rules or guidance under this subsection, the secretary of state shall consult

with and allow for input from municipal clerks, local election officials, and national and state party

representatives.

     (b) In addition to any other information required by law to be reported with official final

results, the secretary of state shall make public:

     (1) The number and percentage of votes that each candidate received in each round of the

official tabulation;

     (2) The number of ballots that became inactive in each round for the reasons set out in §

17-12.1-17(d)(2), reported as separate figures; and

     (3) Ballot-level ranking data on a contest-by-contest basis in a machine-readable, open

format that can be retrieved, downloaded, indexed, sorted, and searched by commonly used Internet

search applications and commonly used open format software, and in a manner identifiable by

precinct to the extent such identification is feasible and can be provided consistent with the need to

maintain voter privacy.

     (c) The secretary of state shall provide round-by-round results for each party on the

geographical basis or basis identified in the notice submitted by the chairperson of that party's state

committee pursuant to § 17-12.1-2.

     17-12.1-19. Rulemaking authority.

     The secretary of state shall have the authority to promulgate whatever rules, regulations,

and procedures are necessary to implement this chapter.

     17-12.1-20. Fusion voting.

     Nothing in this chapter shall be construed or implemented in a manner that would

effectively foreclose the use of or substantially increase the cost of adopting a ballot structure or

voting system compatible with fusion voting. For the purposes of this chapter, fusion voting is an

electoral system that allows two (2) or more political parties to indicate their endorsement of a

single candidate for office on the ballot.

     SECTION 3. Section 17-19-37.4 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-19 entitled "Conduct

of Election and Voting Equipment, and Supplies" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     17-19-37.4. Post-election audits.

     (a) The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that auditing of election

results is necessary to ensure effective election administration and public confidence in the election

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results. Further, risk-limiting audits provide a more effective manner of conducting audits than

traditional audit methods in that risk-limiting audit methods typically require only limited resources

for election contests with wide margins of victory while investing greater resources in close

contests.

     (b) Commencing in 2018, the board, in conjunction with local boards, is authorized to

conduct risk-limiting audits after all primary, general, and special elections in accordance with the

requirements of this section. Commencing in 2020, the state board, in conjunction with local

boards, must conduct risk-limiting audits after the presidential preference primary and general

elections in accordance with the requirements in this section.

     (c) The audit program shall be conducted as follows:

     (1) The state board shall determine what local, state, and federal contests are subject to a

risk-limiting audit;

     (2) The state board shall provide notice pursuant to chapter 46 of title 42 of the time and

place of the random selection of the audit units to be manually tallied and of the times and places

of the audits;

     (3) The state board shall make available to the public a report of the vote-tabulating device

results for the contest, including the results for each audit unit in the contest, prior to the random

selection of audit units to be manually tallied and prior to the commencement of the audit;

     (4) The state board, in conjunction with the local boards, shall conduct the audit upon

tabulation of the unofficial final results as provided in §§ 17-19-36 and 17-19-37 or, for a

presidential preference primary, conducted pursuant to chapter 12.1 of title 17, as provided in

applicable rule; and

     (5) The state board, in conjunction with the local boards, shall conduct the audit in public

view by manually interpreting the ballots according to rules established by the state board in

accordance with chapter 35 of title 42.

     (d) If a risk-limiting audit of a contest leads to a full manual tally of the ballots cast using

the voting system, the vote counts according to that manual tally shall replace the vote counts

reported pursuant to §§ 17-19-36 and 17-19-37 or, for a presidential preference primary, conducted

pursuant to chapter 12.1 of title 17, as provided in applicable rule for the purpose of determining

the official contest results pursuant to §§ 17-22-5.2 and 17-22-6 or the official contest results for a

presidential preference primary, conducted pursuant to chapter 12.1 of title 17.

     (e) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

     (1) “Audit unit” means a precinct, a set of ballots, or a single ballot. A precinct, a set of

ballots, or a single ballot may be used as an audit unit for purposes of this section only if all of the

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following conditions are satisfied:

     (i) The relevant vote-tabulating device is able to produce a report of the votes cast in the

precinct, set of ballots, or single ballot; and

     (ii) Each ballot is assigned to not more than one audit unit.

     (2) “Contest” means an election for an office or for a measure.

     (3) “Risk-limiting audit” means a manual tally employing a statistical method that ensures

a large, predetermined minimum chance of requiring a full manual tally whenever a full manual

tally would show an electoral outcome that differs from the outcome reported by the vote-tabulating

system for the audited contest. A risk-limiting audit shall begin with a hand tally of the votes in one

or more audit units and shall continue to hand tally votes in additional audit units until there is

strong statistical evidence that the electoral outcome is correct. In the event that counting additional

audit units does not provide strong statistical evidence that the electoral outcome is correct, the

audit shall continue until there has been a full manual tally to determine the correct electoral

outcome of the audited contest.

     (4) “Unofficial final results” means election results tabulated pursuant to §§ 17-19-36 and

17-19-37 or, for a presidential preference primary, conducted pursuant to chapter 12.1 of title 17,

as provided in applicable rule.

     (f) The results of any audits conducted under this section shall be published on the website

of the state board within forty-eight (48) hours of being accepted by the state board. If the audit

involved a manual tally of one or more entire precincts, then the names and numbers of all precincts

audited and a comparison of the vote tabulator results with the hand counts for each precinct shall

be published with the audit results on the website.

     (g) Any audit required under this section shall not commence for any election subject to a

recount pursuant to §§ 17-12.1-14, 17-19-37.1, 17-19-37.2, and 17-19-37.3 until the conclusion of

said recount.

     (h) The state board shall promulgate rules, regulations, and procedures in accordance with

chapter 35 of title 42 necessary to implement this section.

     SECTION 4. 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 -- PRIMARIES FOR ELECTION OF DELEGATES TO

NATIONAL CONVENTIONS AND FOR PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE

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     This act would spell out rules and regulations for the presidential preference primary

elections, and would also establish rules for ranked choice voting tabulation and results reporting

by the secretary of state.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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