R.I. Gen. Laws
Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 17-19-36 (2026)

Tabulation of town returns — Certificate of election

✓ text as last checked Sept. 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
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The local board shall meet on the day following the election and shall tabulate the town or city election returns, as the case may be, and announce the results, but shall issue no certificates of election until the time for petitions filed under this section has expired and, if a petition has been filed, until the petition has been finally determined. Any candidate at the election challenging the correctness of the declaration of result as applied to the candidate may, within nine (9) days after the election, petition the state board to conduct a recount of the votes cast according to the provisions set forth in § 17-19-37.1. After the completion of the recount, and if it finds that the candidate was elected, it shall direct the local board to issue to the candidate a certificate of election, but if it finds that the candidate declared to be elected by the local board was in fact elected, it shall direct the board to issue a certificate of election to the candidate previously declared elected.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 1965–1981 · leading case: Buonanno v. DiStefano, 430 A.2d 765 (R.I. 1981).
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Buonanno v. DiStefano, 430 A.2d 765 (R.I. 1981). · cites it 6× “1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 17-19-36, asked the board for a recount of the voting-machine votes as they related to the three at-large positions.”
Andrews v. Stiles, 209 A.2d 210 (R.I. 1965). “1956, §17-19-36, challenged the correctness of the earlier declaration of the result of the election as applied to him and petitioned the state board of elections to open the voting machines upon which his name appeared at the general election.”
Zona v. North Providence Bd. of Canvassers, 306 A.2d 172 (R.I. 1973). · cites it 2× “Section 17-19-36. Nothing within our General Laws empowers local boards of canvassers to withhold a certificate of election once it has been determined that a candidate has received the requisite number of votes to be elected.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.