§ 17-23-1. Signature and labeling of advertising in periodicals. No person shall publish or cause to be published in any newspaper or other periodical, either in its advertising or reading columns, any paid matter designed or tending to aid, injure, or defeat any candidate for public office or any question submitted to the voters, unless […]
§ 17-23-10. Violations by public officers generally. Any public officer, upon whom a duty is imposed by this title, who willfully neglects to perform his or her duty, or who performs it in a way that hinders the objects of this title, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. History of Section.G.L. 1896, ch. 11, § […]
§ 17-23-11. Limitation of prosecutions — Payment to complainant. All prosecutions for offenses against the provisions of this chapter shall commence within one year after the offenses have been committed, and not afterwards. And upon the presentation of a certificate of the clerk of any court of the final conviction in the court of any […]
§ 17-23-12. Qualification of person obtaining signatures. (a) No person, except one qualified to sign a petition for the adoption of a home rule charter as provided in § 6 of article XIII of the Constitution of this state, shall circulate any petition, or obtain signatures on any petition, and any petition circulated, or any […]
§ 17-23-13. Sound equipment. No sound equipment advocating the election or defeat of any candidate or the approval or disapproval of any referenda shall be allowed within five hundred (500) feet of any polling place. History of Section.P.L. 1978, ch. 200, § 2.
§ 17-23-14. Political advertising. No newspaper, periodical, radio, or television station shall charge for a political advertisement a sum greater than that charged by the medium for advertisement if it were nonpolitical. The attorney general shall enforce the provisions of this section and, upon conviction, a civil penalty of five hundred dollars ($500) shall be […]
§ 17-23-15. Polling or surveying of voter opinion. (a) No person shall conduct any form of poll or survey of voter opinion or voter conduct within a building or within fifty (50) feet of the entrance or entrances to a building in which voting is being conducted at any primary or election; provided, that nothing […]
§ 17-23-16. Guaranteed access in exchange for contributions prohibited. As defined in § 17-2-1, no general officer and no candidate for a general office shall solicit campaign contributions by guaranteeing to all contributors of a specified minimum amount of money, as a quid pro quo for their contributions, the right to meet with the general […]
§ 17-23-17. Violations with respect to elections. (a) Any person is guilty of a felony who: (1) Makes a declaration of candidacy or obtains, circulates, or causes to be circulated his or her nomination papers for an office, knowing or with good reason to know that he or she is not qualified as provided in […]
§ 17-23-18. Political advertising from official budgets prohibited. (a) Except in accordance with subsections (b) and (c) of this section, no elected official shall permit the expenditure of public funds from any official budget under his or her authority for any publication, advertisement, broadcast, or telecast of his or her photograph, voice, or other likeness […]
§ 17-23-19. Referenda advertisements. Media outlets in Rhode Island that sell time for advertisements pertaining to referenda questions at an election shall require the purchasers of the advertisements to prominently display the state in which the referenda election is to be held. History of Section.P.L. 1994, ch. 399, § 1.
§ 17-23-2. Signature of posters, fliers, and circulars. No person shall intentionally write, print, post, or distribute, or cause to be written, printed, posted, or distributed, a circular, flier, or poster designed or tending to injure or defeat any candidate for nomination or election to any public office, by criticizing the candidate’s personal character or […]
§ 17-23-3. Penalty for advertising violations. Whoever violates any provision of § 17-23-1 or § 17-23-2 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. History of Section.P.L. 1923, ch. 457, § 3; G.L. 1938, ch. 325, § 3; G.L. 1956, § 17-23-3; P.L. 1958, ch. 18, § 1; P.L. 1978, ch. 201, § 13.
§ 17-23-4. Fraudulent or repeat voting. Every person who, in any election, fraudulently votes or attempts to vote, not being qualified, notwithstanding that person’s name may be on the voting list at the polling place where the person votes or attempts to vote; or who votes or attempts to vote in the name of some […]
§ 17-23-5. Bribery or intimidation of voters — Immunity of witnesses in bribery trials. Every person who directly or indirectly gives, or offers to agree to give, to any elector or to any person for the benefit of any elector, any sum of money or other valuable consideration for the purpose of inducing the elector […]
§ 17-23-6. Improper influence by employers. (a) Every person being an employer who, within ninety (90) days of a general election, pays any of his or her employees the salary or wages due them in “pay envelopes” upon which there is written or printed, or in which there is inserted: (1) a notice or information, […]
§ 17-23-7. Protection of names of major parties. (a) It shall be unlawful for any club or society or association, whether incorporated or not, to include in its name the word “republican” or “democrat” or any designation indicating its affiliation with a political party, unless: (1) If it is state or congressional district wide in […]
§ 17-23-8. Failure to furnish certificate of election. Every city or town clerk or local board required by law to furnish any city, town, ward, or voting district officer elect with a proper certificate of the officer’s election who neglects or refuses to do so, as soon as possible after the election, shall be guilty […]
§ 17-23-9. Violations as to nomination papers or withdrawals — Protection of party emblems. Any person who falsely makes, or willfully defaces or destroys, any certificate of nomination or nomination paper, or any part of it, or any letter of withdrawal, or files any certificate of nomination or nomination paper or letter of withdrawal, knowing […]
