---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- MAIL BALLOTS (Requires that electors that cast emergency ballots in the 12 day period prior to any election day sign an electronic pollbook giving a reason why they cannot get to the polls and vote be cast immediately into a voting machine.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- MAIL BALLOTS (Requires that electors that cast emergency ballots in the 12 day period prior to any election day sign an electronic pollbook giving a reason why they cannot get to the polls and vote be cast immediately into a voting machine.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 2598"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 2598 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Board of Elections", "Elections"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lynch Prata"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-02-25"
last_action: "2020-07-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2ad75eee-32c0-44c0-8f04-cfcd66d47857"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "b058943e6c897b0a730ddffee8b807f07c68e9bc99f1067235ced4983a5e1ee6"
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 2598 (2020) — AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- MAIL BALLOTS (Requires that electors that cast emergency ballots in the 12 day period prior to any election day sign an electronic pollbook giving a reason why they cannot get to the polls and vote be cast immediately into a voting machine.)

## Version chain

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

1. **2598 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText20/SenateText20/S2598A.pdf)

## Votes

- IN CONCURRENCE — **67–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **37–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Lynch Prata — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-02-25** 02/25/2020 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2020-07-03** 07/03/2020 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (07/09/2020)
- **2020-07-09** 07/09/2020 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2020-07-13** 07/13/2020 Scheduled for consideration (07/16/2020)
- **2020-07-15** 07/15/2020 Proposed Substitute
- **2020-07-16** 07/16/2020 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-07-16** 07/16/2020 Placed on Senate Calendar (07/16/2020)
- **2020-07-16** 07/16/2020 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2020-07-16** 07/16/2020 Placed on House Calendar (07/16/2020)
- **2020-07-16** 07/16/2020 House passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2020-07-17** 07/17/2020 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2020-07-22** 07/22/2020 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/2ad75eee-32c0-44c0-8f04-cfcd66d47857`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).