Rhode Island General Laws Title 17. Elections § 17-19-37.3. Recount eligibility--Ballot questions and other offices

(a) The person, group or organization may request a recount of the votes cast at each precinct by re-reading the programmed memory device or devices and comparing the results and totals obtained at such recount with the results and totals obtained on election night, provided that for those ballot questions where less than one hundred thousand (100,000) votes are cast the difference between the approval or rejection of the question shall be by two percent (2%) or less; and, for those ballot questions where one hundred thousand (100,000) or more votes are cast the difference between the approval or rejection of the question shall be by one percent (1%) or less. If, after said recount, the difference between the approval or rejection of the ballot question shall be less than one-half of one percent ( 1/2 %) or five hundred (500) votes, whichever is less, the petitioner may request a recount pursuant to subsection (1)(b) of this section.

(b) The person, group or organization may request a recount of the votes cast at each precinct by a manual re-feeding of the computer ballots are cast into the optical scan voting equipment if the difference between the approval and rejection of the ballot question shall be by less than one-half of one percent ( 1/2 %) or five hundred (500) votes, whichever is less.

(c) For the purpose of determining recount eligibility for ballot questions, as prescribed in subsections (1)(a) and (b) of this section, only the total number of votes cast as “approve” and “reject” for said question shall be included.

(b) In those races in which more than one but less than eight (8) candidates are elected a candidate who trails the winning candidate by less than one percent (1%) or twenty-five (25) votes, whichever is less, may request a recount of the votes cast at each precinct by re-reading the programmed memory device or devices and comparing the results and totals obtained at such recount with the results and totals obtained on election night.

(c) In those races in which more eight (8) or more candidates are elected a candidate who trails the winning candidate by less than one-half of one percent ( 1/2 %) or twenty-five (25) votes, whichever is less, may request a recount of the votes cast at each precinct by re-reading the programmed memory device or devices and comparing the results and totals obtained at such recount with the results and totals obtained on election night.

(d) For the purpose of determining recount eligibility, as prescribed in subsections (2)(b) and (c) of this section, the total number of votes cast in a race shall be determined by dividing the total number of votes eligible to be cast in the race by the number of candidates for whom each voter was eligible to cast votes.