PROVIDENCE, RI -- Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis reports that five more candidates for statewide office have officially been certified to appear on this year's ballot.
Frank Caprio, Heidi Rogers, Catherine Terry Taylor, Erik Wallin and Kernan "Kerry" King join Elizabeth Roberts, Peter Kilmartin, Gina Raimondo and Mollis as the only candidates for general office to have qualified so far. Jim Langevin is still the only candidate for either of Rhode Island's Congressional seats to make the ballot.
Mollis expects more will be certified over next few days as local boards of canvassers continue to submit signature papers to his office for certification. So far, the boards in Burrillville, Coventry, Cranston, Foster, Johnston, Pawtucket, Providence, Scituate and Tiverton have submitted their papers.
The Secretary of State's office is responsible for certifying the signature papers of Congressional and statewide candidates. Local boards of canvassers certify the papers for local office such as school committee and mayor.
State law gave all candidates until last Friday to submit the signatures of enough eligible voters to officially qualify them to appear on the ballot. The threshold ranges from 50 signatures for many municipal offices to 500 for most statewide offices to 1,000 for Governor.
The public can follow the daily results for every office on the Secretary of State's website. The certified signature totals for every candidate are updated every weeknight, so on most mornings voters can wake up to the most current numbers.
The figures will reflect only what local boards of canvassers have reported to Mollis, who says it is likely that many candidates have submitted signature papers that local boards have not processed yet.
The next milestone in the state’s election calendar is July 22, which is the deadline for local boards to certify candidates for municipal offices. Mollis has until July 23 to certify the signatures of Congressional and statewide candidates in order for their names to appear on the ballot.
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