---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS - NOMINATION - DECLARATION OF CANDIDACY - PRIMARY VOTES (Moves the date of primaries to the eighth Tuesday preceding biennial state elections.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS - NOMINATION - DECLARATION OF CANDIDACY - PRIMARY VOTES (Moves the date of primaries to the eighth Tuesday preceding biennial state elections.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "SB 588"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 588 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Elections"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Crowley"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 13
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-03-14"
last_action: "2019-07-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/480642c5-989f-4219-80a4-c60c3a2df0f1"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "bde804b7580bb21b31bc5876c3aa44eaea40b4199df1a8f1217da84570d172d8"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ri"]
---

# Rhode Island SB 588 (2019) — AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS - NOMINATION - DECLARATION OF CANDIDACY - PRIMARY VOTES (Moves the date of primaries to the eighth Tuesday preceding biennial state elections.)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **588 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText19/SenateText19/S0588A.pdf)

## Votes

- IN CONCURRENCE — **67–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **33–4** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Crowley — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-03-14** 03/14/2019 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-03-15** 03/15/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/21/2019)
- **2019-03-21** 03/21/2019 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2019-06-24** 06/24/2019 Scheduled for consideration (06/26/2019)
- **2019-06-25** 06/25/2019 Proposed Substitute
- **2019-06-26** 06/26/2019 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-26** 06/26/2019 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/26/2019)
- **2019-06-26** 06/26/2019 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2019-06-27** 06/27/2019 Referred to House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-28** 06/28/2019 Placed on House Calendar (06/28/2019)
- **2019-06-28** 06/28/2019 House passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2019-07-11** 07/11/2019 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-07-15** 07/15/2019 Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/480642c5-989f-4219-80a4-c60c3a2df0f1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).