---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- MAIL BALLOTS"
description: "Allows the board of elections to tabulate mail ballots in local special elections in the same manner as in tabulate mail ballots in statewide elections."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 815"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 815 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Britto", "Dimitri", "LaMountain", "Patalano", "Thompson", "Tikoian", "Vargas"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-03-14"
last_action: "2025-06-17"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ef402e21-9b3e-468b-a348-322eb30c724b"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "9ccb1f0d5068594f260a9788a549400565009f97be3ab8d64a8240bd0b22bff8"
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 815 (2025) — AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- MAIL BALLOTS

Allows the board of elections to tabulate mail ballots in local special elections in the same manner as in tabulate mail ballots in statewide elections.

## Version chain

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

1. **815** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/SenateText25/S0815.pdf)

## Votes

- IN CONCURRENCE — **66–2** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **34–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Britto — primary (person)
- Dimitri — primary (person)
- LaMountain — primary (person)
- Patalano — primary (person)
- Thompson — primary (person)
- Tikoian — primary (person)
- Vargas — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-03-14** 03/14/2025 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-03-14** 03/14/2025 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/20/2025)
- **2025-03-20** 03/20/2025 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2025-05-23** 05/23/2025 Scheduled for consideration (05/27/2025)
- **2025-05-27** 05/27/2025 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-05-27** 05/27/2025 Placed on Senate Calendar (05/29/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-05-29** 05/29/2025 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2025-06-06** 06/06/2025 Placed on House Calendar (06/12/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-06-12** 06/12/2025 House passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2025-06-13** 06/13/2025 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-06-17** 06/17/2025 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/ef402e21-9b3e-468b-a348-322eb30c724b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).