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| 9 | 9 | | S TATE OF RHODE IS LAND |
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| 10 | 10 | | IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 11 | 11 | | JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023 |
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| 12 | 12 | | ____________ |
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| 13 | 13 | | |
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| 14 | 14 | | A N A C T |
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| 15 | 15 | | RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- STATEWIDE REFERENDA ELECTIONS |
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| 16 | 16 | | Introduced By: Senators McKenney, Britto, Burke, LaMountain, and Kallman |
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| 17 | 17 | | Date Introduced: February 16, 2023 |
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| 18 | 18 | | Referred To: Senate Judiciary |
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| 19 | 19 | | |
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| 20 | 20 | | |
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| 21 | 21 | | It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
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| 22 | 22 | | SECTION 1. Sections 17-5-1.1, 17-5-3 and 17-5-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 17-5 1 |
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| 23 | 23 | | entitled "Statewide Referenda Elections" are hereby amended to read as follows: 2 |
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| 24 | 24 | | 17-5-1.1. Special referenda elections. 3 |
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| 25 | 25 | | Any proposition of amendment of the Constitution or any other public question submitted 4 |
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| 26 | 26 | | to the electors of the state at any election not a general election pursuant to § 17-1-2(2) shall be 5 |
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| 27 | 27 | | held on the first Tuesday next after the first Monday of any month and shall be voted upon at town, 6 |
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| 28 | 28 | | ward, and district meetings, in accordance with the following procedure: 7 |
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| 29 | 29 | | (1) When an act of the general assembly is passed authorizing the submission of a question 8 |
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| 30 | 30 | | to all of the electors of the state, the secretary of state is authorized to rephrase the question to 9 |
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| 31 | 31 | | appear on the ballot in a manner that would clearly apprise the voters of the question to be voted 10 |
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| 32 | 32 | | upon and to cause the ballot to contain a concise caption of the question, and the full text of the 11 |
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| 33 | 33 | | question as adopted by the general assembly need not appear on the ballot except for proposed 12 |
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| 34 | 34 | | amendments to the Constitution of the state of Rhode Island., but shall: 13 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (i) Require that the question shall be stated in plain language reasonably calculated to be 14 |
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| 44 | 44 | | be printed on a distinctive colored background. 1 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (2) Prior to the election at which public questions are to be submitted, the secretary of state 2 |
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| 46 | 46 | | shall cause to be printed and shall send one copy of the full text of each legislative act to be acted 3 |
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| 47 | 47 | | upon and applicable to the state at large, or the secretary of state may substitute a description of the 4 |
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| 48 | 48 | | text of each act in lieu of the full text, to each residential unit in Rhode Island together with the 5 |
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| 49 | 49 | | following information: 6 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (i) The designated number of the question appearing on the ballot; 7 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (ii) A brief caption of the question appearing on the ballot; and 8 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (iii) A brief explanation of the measure being the subject matter of the question. 9 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (3) Voting on a proposition of amendment of the Constitution or of a public question of 10 |
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| 54 | 54 | | statewide impact shall be by means of optical-scan voting equipment and computer ballots 11 |
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| 55 | 55 | | authorized pursuant to this title. 12 |
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| 56 | 56 | | 17-5-3. Publication of questions to be submitted to voters. 13 |
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| 57 | 57 | | (a) Prior to each general election at which public questions are to be submitted, the 14 |
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| 58 | 58 | | secretary of state shall cause to be printed and shall send one copy of the full text of each legislative 15 |
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| 59 | 59 | | act to be acted upon and applicable to the state at large, or the secretary of state may substitute a 16 |
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| 60 | 60 | | description of the text of each act in lieu of the full text, to each residential unit in Rhode Island 17 |
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| 61 | 61 | | together with the following information: 18 |
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| 62 | 62 | | (1) The designated number of the question; 19 |
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| 63 | 63 | | (2) A brief caption of the question; 20 |
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| 64 | 64 | | (3) A brief explanation of the measure that is the subject matter of the question stated in 21 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (4) A notice that voter fraud is a felony and the penalty for voter fraud. This notice shall be 24 |
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| 68 | 68 | | in conspicuous lettering and shall contain the following language: “You must be registered to vote 25 |
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| 69 | 69 | | from your actual place of residence.” 26 |
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| 70 | 70 | | (b) If the public question involves the issuance of bonds or other evidence of indebtedness 27 |
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| 71 | 71 | | or any other long term financial obligation such as a lease, the notice required by subsection (a) of 28 |
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| 72 | 72 | | this section shall also include at least the following information to be provided by the agency or 29 |
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| 73 | 73 | | department for which the bonds or other evidence of indebtedness or any other long term financial 30 |
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| 74 | 74 | | obligation is intended: 31 |
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| 75 | 75 | | (1) The estimated total cost of the project or program, including financing (using a 32 |
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| 76 | 76 | | reasonable assumed rate of interest), legal, and other costs. 33 |
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| 77 | 77 | | (2) The estimated useful life of the project, and the term of the bonds, other indebtedness, 34 |
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| 78 | 78 | | |
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| 79 | 79 | | |
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| 88 | | - | to be understood by persons with an eighth-grade reading level, presented without the necessity of 8 |
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| 89 | | - | repeating the full text of the question as adopted by the general assembly; provided, that in the case 9 |
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| 90 | | - | of proposed amendments to the Constitution of the state of Rhode Island, the full text as adopted 10 |
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| 91 | | - | by the general assembly shall be reprinted on the computer ballots. The secretary of state shall 11 |
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| 92 | | - | cause each question appearing on the computer ballot prepared by the secretary to be designated 12 |
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| 93 | | - | by number, the first question to be designated by the number I, and additional questions shall be 13 |
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| 94 | | - | submitted with numbers in consecutive order. 14 |
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| 88 | + | to be understood by persons with middle school reading comprehension skills, presented without 8 |
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| 89 | + | the necessity of repeating the full text of the question as adopted by the general assembly; provided, 9 |
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| 90 | + | that in the case of proposed amendments to the Constitution of the state of Rhode Island, the full 10 |
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| 91 | + | text as adopted by the general assembly shall be reprinted on the computer ballots. The secretary 11 |
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| 92 | + | of state shall cause each question appearing on the computer ballot prepared by the secretary to be 12 |
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| 93 | + | designated by number, the first question to be designated by the number I, and additional questions 13 |
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| 94 | + | shall be submitted with numbers in consecutive order. 14 |
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| 95 | 95 | | (b) Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the general election to be held on November 2, 2004, 15 |
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| 96 | 96 | | in order to avoid a two-sheet statewide ballot, given the number of public questions to be submitted 16 |
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| 97 | 97 | | to the electors at such general election, the secretary of state may prepare the ballot in such manner 17 |
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| 98 | 98 | | that the statewide public questions involving the issuance of bonds or other evidence of 18 |
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| 99 | 99 | | indebtedness, or other long-term financial obligation, shall appear on the ballot with only a caption 19 |
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| 100 | 100 | | and the amount of financial obligation to be incurred, but without the clear and concise statement 20 |
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| 101 | 101 | | of each question, as otherwise required. Provided, however, that such clear and concise statement 21 |
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| 102 | 102 | | of such question shall instead appear in a conspicuous location within each privacy voting booth at 22 |
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| 103 | 103 | | each polling place with additional copies thereof available at each polling place; and for mail ballot 23 |
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| 104 | 104 | | voters, each such ballot sent to a mail ballot voter shall be accompanied by a clear and concise 24 |
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| 105 | 105 | | statement of each question printed on a separate sheet of paper. 25 |
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| 106 | 106 | | (c) Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the general election to be held on November 4, 2014, 26 |
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| 107 | 107 | | in order to avoid a multiple page statewide ballot, given the number of public questions to be 27 |
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| 108 | 108 | | submitted to the electors at such general election, the secretary of state may prepare the ballot in 28 |
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| 109 | 109 | | such manner that the statewide public questions involving the issuance of bonds or other evidence 29 |
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| 110 | 110 | | of indebtedness, or other long-term financial obligation, shall appear on the ballot with only a 30 |
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| 111 | 111 | | caption and the amount of financial obligation to be incurred, but without the clear and concise 31 |
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| 112 | 112 | | statement of each question, as otherwise required; provided, however, that such clear and concise 32 |
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| 113 | 113 | | statement of such question shall instead appear in a conspicuous location within each privacy voting 33 |
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| 114 | 114 | | booth at each polling place with additional copies thereof available at each polling place; and for 34 |
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| 115 | 115 | | |
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| 116 | 116 | | |
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