Rhode Island Recount Laws

Close vote margin required Rhode Island statutes divide candidates into those for “public office” and those for “non-public office” (such as political party offices) and specifies that both “a candidate for election or nomination for election to public office” and “a candidate for any office other than a public office” may request recounts. However, there is a close vote margin requirement, which varies depending on the number of candidates to be elected to the office and the number of votes cast. For a list of the vote margin requirements for candidates seeking public office, see Section 17-19-37.1, “Recount eligibility – Candidates for public office”: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE17/17-19/17-19-37.1.HTM. For a list of the vote margin requirements for candidates seeking non-public offices, see Section 17-19-37.3, “Recount eligibility – Ballot questions and other offices,” Subsection 2a, 2b, and 2c: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE17/17-19/17-19-37.3.HTM. Restrictions on Counting Method for Candidate-Initiated Recounts: Both candidates for public office and those for non-public office who meet the specified close vote margin requirement may request only a machine retabulation, and not a hand recount, of the ballots cast. Candidates who do not meet the close vote margin requirements, but who trail the apparent winning candidate by not more than 5% of the total votes cast for the respective office, may request an electronic review, but not a retabulation or recount. If such an examination shows that the vote margin actually fulfills the close vote margin requirements, the candidate may then request a machine retabulation. See Section 17-19-37.1, Subsection (3). Furthermore, presidential candidates may only request the re-reading of the programmed memory devices; there is no provision for a hand count or a machine retabulation. As with other contests, there is a close vote margin requirement; in this case, the difference must be two hundred votes or less. See Section 17-12.1-14, “Recount”: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE17/17-12.1/17-12.1-14.HTM. The only candidates who may request a hand recount are write-in candidates for public office. They, too must fit the respective close vote margin requirement for their given office, and must also receive “a minimum of ten (10) votes or one percent (1%) of the votes cast in the race, whichever is greater.” However, a retabulation may still occur since “the state board may, upon its own motion, determine to re-feed by hand the computer ballots cast at each precinct in the race into the optical scan voting equipment.” Thus, it may either be a “recount” or a “retabulation.” See Section 17-19-37.2, “Recount eligibility – Write-in candidates for public office” http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE17/17-19/17-19-37.2.HTM. Timing: A request for a recount in a primary election must be made by 4:00 p.m. the day after the primary, and the recount must be completed within seven days of the election. See Section 17-15-34, “Recount petition or other protest”: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE17/17-15/17-15-34.HTM. A request for a recount in a general election must be made within seven days of the election; however, there is no time limit for when the recount must be completed. For details on timing, see the Rhode Island Board of Elections' Guide to Election Recounts: http://www.elections.ri.gov/publications/Election_Publications/Countbook....