2023 Rhode Island General Laws › Title 17 - Elections › Chapter 17-9.1 - Registration of Voters › Section 17-9.1-25. - Acknowledgement of registration or change of address — Verification of residence.

§ 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 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:
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
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 § 17-9.1-26.
History of Section.
P.L. 1994, ch. 171, § 4; P.L. 2004, ch. 417, § 1; P.L. 2007, ch. 384, § 1; P.L. 2012, ch. 86, § 1; P.L. 2012, ch. 113, § 1.