Rhode Island General Laws Title 17. Elections § 17-9.1-27. Periodic updating of voter registration records

(a) Not less than four (4) times within a calendar year, the secretary of state shall update the central voter register using the United States Postal Service National Change of Address (NCOA) Program. The office of the secretary of state shall be responsible for obtaining the NCOA data and providing each local board of canvassers with their data; provided, that the updating shall be performed by each local board. The NCOA list of address changes shall be compared by the local board with lists of registered voters, and if address changes are detected for any voter, the local board shall institute the confirmation process described in § 17-9.1-26.

(b) Each local board of canvassers in each city or town shall send annually, a notice prescribed by the secretary of state and marked “Do Not Forward--Return if Undeliverable”, to every active registered voter who has not voted in the past five (5) calendar years and has not otherwise communicated with the board during that period of time, advising them of their current polling place and voting eligibility, and informing them that mail that is returned as undeliverable will initiate the confirmation process described in § 17-9.1-26; provided, however, that the local boards shall not be obligated to send such notice if the state or federal government fails to appropriate the necessary funds.

(c) The secretary of state shall promulgate regulations for the uniform implementation of this section, consistent with all applicable federal voting laws.

(d) Beginning ninety (90) days before any state election and through certification of that election, local boards shall cease all list maintenance procedures required by this section.