§ 11-16-307. Voting eligibility - Town meeting pollbook - Illegal voting - Penalty.

A.  The presiding officer at a town meeting shall follow reasonable and necessary procedures to ensure that persons who are not registered voters of the town do not vote.  Registered voters shall be seated in a clearly marked area separate from persons not registered to vote.

B.  To be eligible to vote at a town meeting, a person must be registered with the county election board at an address located within the municipality.  Before being seated in the section reserved for registered voters, each voter shall sign his or her name in a town meeting pollbook, said signature to constitute a sworn affidavit on the part of the voter that he or she is eligible to vote at the election.  The pollbook shall be prepared by the municipal clerk.  For such purpose, the municipal clerk or designee of the municipal clerk shall be authorized to administer the oath or affirmation contained in the affidavit.  The town meeting pollbook shall be on file in the office of the municipal clerk and shall be open to public inspection during reasonable office hours; provided, however, that such town meeting pollbooks may be destroyed by the municipal clerk at the end of six (6) months from the date of the election wherein such town meeting pollbook was used.  Any person knowingly voting illegally or found guilty of casting more than one vote for any office or on any question considered at the meeting shall be punished by a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or by imprisonment in the county jail for not to exceed thirty (30) days or both such fine and imprisonment.

Added by Laws 1988, c. 105, § 7, eff. Nov. 1, 1988.  Amended by Laws 2002, c. 447, § 1, emerg. eff. June 5, 2002.