R.I. Gen. Laws
Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 17-1-3.1 (2026)

Residence for voting purposes

✓ text as last checked Sept. 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
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(a) A person’s residence for voting purposes is his or her fixed and established domicile. The determinant of one’s domicile is that person’s factual physical presence in the voting district on a regular basis incorporating an intention to reside for an indefinite period. This domicile is the place to which, upon temporary absence, he or she has the intention of returning. Once acquired, this domicile continues until another domicile is established. A person can have only one domicile, and the domicile shall not be considered lost solely by reason of absence for any of the following reasons:

(1) Employment or service outside of the state intimately connected with military operations or with the federal government, including the spouse and dependents of an elector so employed;

(2) Confinement in a correctional facility;

(3) Being a patient in a hospital, convalescent home, nursing home or rest home, or like facility; or

(4) Attendance as a student at an academic institution, including the spouse and dependents of an elector who is a student.

(b) The following shall be considered prima facie evidence of a person’s residence for voting purposes:

(1) The address furnished to the division of motor vehicles for the voter’s operator’s license;

(2) The address from which the voter’s motor vehicle is registered;

(3) The address from which the voter filed his last federal income tax return;

(4) The address from which the voter filed his last state income tax return;

(5) The address furnished to the companies from which the voter has obtained retail credit cards;

(6) The address furnished to the financial institutions where the voter maintains accounts;

(7) The address furnished to the tax collector and/or assessor in those communities where the voter owns taxable real or personal property for the purpose of notification to him or her;

(8) The address furnished to the insurance companies with which the voter maintains policies;

(9) The address furnished to the voter’s employer;

(10) The address furnished by the voter to any business, professional, union, or fraternal organizations of which he or she is a member;

(11) The address furnished to governmental agencies with which the voter has contact;

(12) The address of a hospital, convalescent home, nursing home or rest home, or like facility at which the voter has been a patient or resident for the preceding thirty (30) days or longer;

(13) The address furnished to the United States postal service on a change of address form as verified by the United States postal service.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1984–2016 · leading case: Davidson v. City of Cranston, 42 F. Supp. 3d 325 (D.R.I. 2014).
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Davidson v. City of Cranston, 42 F. Supp. 3d 325 (D.R.I. 2014). · cites it 4× “G.L. § 17-1-3.1 provides in pertinent part: (a) A person’s residence for voting purposes is his or her fixed and established domicile .”
Houle ex rel. Holmes v. Begin, 682 A.2d 1384 (R.I. 1996). “— Every citizen of the United States who is at least eighteen (18) years of age, whose residence as defined in § 17-1-3.1 has been in this state for at least thirty (30) days, and in the town or city and voting district in which that person desires to cast his or her vote at…”
Davidson v. City of Cranston, RI, 837 F.3d 135 (1st Cir. 2016). “17 R.I. Gen. Laws § 17-1-3.1 (a) (“The determinant of one’s domicile is that person's factual physical presence' in the voting district on a regular basis incorporating an intention to reside for an indefinite period.”
Collins v. State Bd. of Elections, 480 A.2d 408 (R.I. 1984). · cites it 2× “172, § 4, specifically provides that nothing in chapter 9 of title 17 “shall be construed to require any voter to re-register if he is already registered in the city or town in which he has his residence as defined in § 17-1-3.1 * * With the rationale of § 17-9-19 firmly before…”
R.I. Gen. Laws § 17-1-3.1(a)(2): 1 case
Davidson v. City of Cranston, 42 F. Supp. 3d 325 (D.R.I. 2014). “G.L. § 17-1-3.1 provides in pertinent part: (a) A person’s residence for voting purposes is his or her fixed and established domicile .”
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