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RHODE ISLAND's STATE LAWS REGARDING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS

  • Electoral College Votes Count: 4
  • Alocation Type: winner-takes-all
  • Electors Must Pledge: no

Elector Pledge and Electoral College Votes Allocation​

Rhode Island is one of the 48 states that have a winner-takes-all rule for the Electoral College. In these States, whichever candidate receives a majority of the popular vote, or a plurality of the popular vote (less than 50 percent but more than any other candidate), takes all of the state’s Electoral votes.Rhode Island is one of the states that do not require their electors to vote as pledged.

Election Code: R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 17-12-13, 17-4-11, 17-4-12

How Does Rhode Island Select Its Electors?​

  • There shall be held every even year a state convention for each political party. The nominees of a party for senator and for representatives in congress, for the five (5) general offices, and for membership in the general assembly shall be delegates to the state convention of that party. In presidential election years, these conventions shall select the party nominees for presidential electors.

When Do The Electors Vote?​

  • Presidential electors shall meet in the state house in the city of Providence on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after their election, at the hour of 12 o'clock noon of that day, and if there is any vacancy in the office of electors, occasioned by death, refusal to act, neglect to attend, or other cause, the electors present shall immediately proceed to fill, by roll call and by a plurality of votes, the vacancy in the electoral college.

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