§ 17-10-1 — § 17-10-1. Maintenance of registration — Inactive file.

§ 17-10-1. Maintenance of registration — Inactive file.

(a) The local board or its duly authorized agent shall maintain the files of registration cards in a condition that will correctly represent the registration of qualified voters at all times. It shall continually purge the cards of voters no longer qualified to vote in the city or town. It shall promptly record all changes of address, changes of name, and transfers and cancellations of registration.

(b) If a confirmation card has been mailed to a registered voter at an address outside of the city or town of the voter's current registered address for voting purposes, or if the confirmation card has been mailed to an address within the same city or town where the voter is registered, which card was sent to confirm the voter's continuing residence within the city or town and not merely to confirm information provided by or through the postal service concerning a change of address within the city or town, and in both cases the voter has failed to respond to the confirmation card, the voter shall be stricken from the voting list and the voter registration shall be canceled if the voter has not voted or appeared to vote in an election during the period beginning on the date of mailing of the confirmation card and ending on the date after the date of the second general election that occurs after the date of mailing of the card. Provided, that the registration of any person shall not be canceled during his or her service in the armed forces of the United States and during two (2) years thereafter. A voter whose registration has been canceled shall not thereafter be eligible to vote unless that voter shall again register in accordance with the provisions of this title and in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of this state. The local board shall notify the secretary of state of any cancellation. The local board shall notify each voter whose registration has been canceled by a notice addressed to the voter at the voter's last known address, and a memorandum that the notice has been sent shall be maintained on file by the local board. The local board shall take affirmative action to purge the voter's name from its files of registration cards.

(c) Using the central voter registration system, upon receipt of the monthly list of individuals who have died from the office of vital statistics, as prescribed by § 23-3-5 or provided by the federal Social Security Administration's master death list, the secretary of state shall identify all voter registrations that may be reflected on the list and so notify electronically, the local board of canvassers of each applicable city or town. The local board, upon receipt of the list of deceased persons from the secretary of state, or upon receipt of an affidavit of death on forms prescribed by the secretary of state, shall promptly purge its files of registration cards by removing the cards of each deceased elector and canceling the voter registration information of the deceased elector from the central voter registration system.

(d) The local board shall maintain a separate list of all new registrations and all transfers of registration which are received by the board within the thirty-day (30) period prior to the close of registration prior to each primary, regular, and special election. The list shall be maintained until the time that the election is held.

Legislative History

P.L. 1951, ch. 2870, § 6; P.L. 1956, ch. 3746, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 17-9-26; G.L., § 17-10-2; P.L. 1958, ch. 18, § 1; P.L. 1963, ch. 209, § 4; P.L. 1965, ch. 176, § 2; P.L. 1975, ch. 242, § 1; P.L. 1978, ch. 203, § 1; P.L. 1981, ch. 312, § 1; P.L. 1983, ch. 172, § 5; P.L. 1988, ch. 84, § 74; P.L. 1989, ch. 441, § 1; P.L. 1994, ch. 171, § 5; P.L. 2008, ch. 164, § 1; P.L. 2008, ch. 177, § 1; P.L. 2022, ch. 45, § 3, effective June 7, 2022; P.L. 2022, ch. 46, § 3, effective June 7, 2022.