§ 17-14-1 - Declarations of candidacy.
SECTION 17-14-1
§ 17-14-1 Declarations of candidacy.– During the last consecutive Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in June in the evenyears and during the thirty-ninth (39th) and fortieth (40th) days preceding aprimary election for a special election, or for an election regularly scheduledfor a time other than the biennial general statewide election, each voterdesiring to be a candidate at the upcoming primary or an independent candidateon final nomination papers shall, on a form that shall be provided by thesecretary of state, file a declaration of his or her candidacy not later thanfour (4:00) p.m. of the last day for the filing with the secretary of state forcongressional and statewide general offices, or with the local board of theplace of the candidate's voting residence for general assembly, or statecommittee or senatorial and representative district committee or with theappropriate local board for local officers. The declaration shall be signed bythe candidate as his or her name appears on the voting list. The signatureshall be accepted as valid if it can be reasonably identified to be the nameand signature of the voter it purports to be. A variation of the voter'ssignature by the insertion or omission of identifying titles or by thesubstitution of initials for the first or middle names of both shall not initself be grounds for invalidation of the signature. The declaration shall alsoinclude the following information:
(1) The candidate's name as it appears on the voting list,subject to the same provisions as relate to the voter's signature on thedeclaration;
(2) The address as it appears on the voting list, providedthat an address which is substantially the same as the address on the votinglist shall be valid;
(3) The party declaration if seeking to run in a partyprimary;
(4) The office sought;
(5) The place and date of birth;
(6) The length of residence in the state and in the town orcity where he or she resides;
(7) A certification that he or she is neither serving asentence, including probation or parole, for which he or she was imprisonedupon final conviction of a felony imposed on any date nor serving any sentence,whether incarcerated or suspended, on probation or parole, upon finalconviction of a felony committed after November 5, 1986;
(8) A certification that he or she has not been lawfullyadjudicated to be non compos mentis, of unsound mind;
(9) In the case of candidates for party nomination, acertification that he or she has not been a member of a political party otherthan the declared party within ninety (90) days of the filing date; and
(10) If a person is a candidate for a state or local office,a certification that the person has not within the preceding three (3) yearsserved any sentence, incarcerated or suspended, on probation or parole, for acrime committed after November 5, 1986, upon a plea of nolo contendere orguilty or upon a conviction of a felony or for a misdemeanor for which asentence of imprisonment for six (6) months or more, whether suspended or to beserved as imposed.