Chapter 086

2012 -- S 2673

Enacted 05/22/12

 

A N A C T

RELATING TO ELECTIONS - REGISTRATION OF VOTERS

          

     Introduced By: Senator P Fogarty

     Date Introduced: March 01, 2012

 

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

 

     SECTION 1. Section 17-9.1-25 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-9.1 entitled

"Registration of Voters" is hereby amended to read as follows:

 

     17-9.1-25. Acknowledgement of registration or change of address -- Verification of

residence. -- (a) The local board of each city or town shall mail an acknowledgement notice to

each newly registered voter and to each voter who changes his or her voting residence within

seven (7) days after receipt of the registration or change of residence. The acknowledgement

notice shall notify the applicant for registration of the disposition of the application, i.e., whether

the application is deemed accepted or denied. If denied, the reason for the denial shall be

indicated on the notice. The acknowledgement notice shall be mailed to the applicant at the

address from which he or she registered and shall be clearly marked: "Do Not Forward -- Return

If Undeliverable". Provided, however, that the New Shoreham Board of Canvassers may address

the acknowledgement notice, and any other notice that may be required by this chapter, to the

person's post office box if said post office box is located within the confines of New Shoreham.

Provided, further that in any other city or town in which some postal customers are not eligible to

receive home mail delivery from the United States postal service, and the respective streets and

street ranges are certified as such to the secretary of state, the city or town shall address the

acknowledgment card and any other notice that may be required by this chapter to the United

States postal service post office box at which the voter receives mail.

     (b) The acknowledgement form shall be a postal card of a size and other specifications

that shall be determined by the state board and shall be substantially in the following form;

provided, that the wording of the form may be revised and updated from time to time by the state

board in a manner to make its content as easily readable and understandable as possible:

     Front Side

     Board of Canvassers                                    Affix

     Address of Board of Canvassers                   Postage

     for the city or town in which registered

     ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED RETURN POSTAGE GUARANTEED DO

NOT FORWARD

                                                                        Voter's Name

                                                                        Voter's Address

______________________________________________________________________________

Reverse Side

______________________________________________________________________________

Your application to register to vote has been received and accepted. The following is information

concerning your voting districts.

     Your U.S. Representative District is _________________________________________

     Your State Senate District is ________________________________________________

     Your Representative District is ______________________________________________

     Your Council District is _________________________________________________

     Your Ward District is __________________________________________________

     Your Voting District is ____________________________________________________

      Locations of polling places for these districts may be obtained from newspaper

advertisements preceding each election or by calling your local board. Your application to

register to vote has been received incomplete. Please contact our office at the telephone number

or address listed below. Your application to register to vote has been rejected because

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

If this card is addressed to a person who does not live at this address, please ask your mail carrier

to return it to the sender.

     Board of Canvassers

     Address

     Telephone Number

      (c) The form may also contain any other information that may be required by the state

board.

      (d) Those notices that are returned as undeliverable to the local board shall be reviewed

to verify that the address was correctly printed on the notice. All notices returned as undeliverable

shall be attached to the registration notices and maintained as a record of the local board.

     (e) Any voter whose application to register to vote has been accepted, but whose

acknowledgement notice has been returned by postal authorities as undeliverable, shall be placed

on an inactive list of voters and shall not be permitted to vote unless an affirmation form is

completed. The local board shall be required, upon receipt of the undeliverable acknowledgement

notice, to commence the confirmation process described in section 17-9.1-26.

 

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

     

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LC01978

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