Projo Politics Blog

Deadlines loom for registered Republican and Democratic voters who want the freedom to cross party lines during the September 9 primaries for state, local and Congressional offices and for the candidates who plan to run those races.

Voters affiliated with either major party have until June 11 to disaffiliate if they want the option of voting in a different party’s primary on Sept. 9.

Voters can disaffiliate by contacting the board of canvassers in their municipalities.

By state law, voters have 90 days before a primary, special election or general election to change or leave a political party.

Candidates for federal, state and local office face a different deadline.

They are required to filed declarations of candidacy between June 23 and 25.

Candidates for federal office must file declarations with the Secretary of State’s Elections Division at 148 West River St., Providence. Candidates for state and local offices must file with the board of canvassers in the city or town that is their legal residence.

Every key date leading up to Rhode Island’s primary and general election is included in a 28-page guidebook that Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis’s office created. The guide is posted on the Secretary of State’s website.

More than 213,000 voters turned out for Rhode Island’s March 4 presidential primary, which was nearly three times the number of voters who turned out for the state’s last competitive presidential primary in 2000.

"Based on the record turnout in our presidential primary, we expect voters will be more engaged this year than ever before. A number of crucial dates in the election calendar are just around the corner. Ensuring our elections are accessible to those who vote and those who hope to serve is one of my priorities,” Mollis said in a statement issued Thursday.

-- Katherine Gregg, Journal State House Bureau

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