• The Elections and Civics Division prepares ballot
  Ballot
  A ballot is a device used to record choices made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, but governmental elections use pre-printed to protect the...
  
  s, ensures accessibility of voting facilities, qualifies and certifies the names of all federal and state candidates for ballot placement, maintains a database
  Database
  A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
  
   of registered voters, and ensures compliance with the Help America Vote Act
  Help America Vote Act
  The Help America Vote Act , or HAVA, is a United States federal law which passed in the House 357-48 and 92-2 in the Senate and was signed into law by President Bush on October 29, 2002. Drafted in reaction to the controversy surrounding the 2000 U.S...
  
  . Administration of elections and compliance with campaign finance
  Campaign finance
  Campaign finance refers to all funds that are raised and spent in order to promote candidates, parties or policies in some sort of electoral contest. In modern democracies such funds are not necessarily devoted to election campaigns. Issue campaigns in referendums, party activities and party...
  
   laws is the responsibility of a separate state agency, the Rhode Island Board of Elections.
• The Corporations Division is responsible for a wide range of business-related legal documents and filings, including formation of corporation
  Corporation
  A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
  
  s and other business entities, lien
  Lien
  In law, a lien is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation...
  
  s and security interest
  Security interest
  A security interest is a property interest created by agreement or by operation of law over assets to secure the performance of an obligation, usually the payment of a debt. It gives the beneficiary of the security interest certain preferential rights in the disposition of secured assets...
  
  s under the Uniform Commercial Code
  Uniform Commercial Code
  The Uniform Commercial Code , first published in 1952, is one of a number of uniform acts that have been promulgated in conjunction with efforts to harmonize the law of sales and other commercial transactions in all 50 states within the United States of America.The goal of harmonizing state law is...
  
  , registration of notaries public
  Notary public
  A notary public in the common law world is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with estates, deeds, powers-of-attorney, and foreign and international business...
  
  , apostilles, trademark
  Trademark
  A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
  
  s and service mark
  Service mark
  A service mark or servicemark is a trademark used in some countries, notably the United States, to identify a service rather than a product. When a service mark is federally registered, the standard registration symbol ® or "Reg U.S. Pat & TM Off" may be used...
  
  s, registration of businesses conducting games of chance, and various other documents required by state law.
• The Public Information Division accepts many filings required to be made with Secretary of State, including Lobbying Disclosures, Public Meeting Notices and Minutes, Disclosure of State Government Consultants and Appointments to Boards and Commissions, and other government information. This division also publishes the Rhode Island Government Owner's Manual, which gives a broad overview of various government offices and officials.
• The Rhode Island State Archives is the official custodian and trustee for public records of permanent historical value.
• The Rhode Island State Library, which was created in 1852 by a General Assembly
  Rhode Island General Assembly
  The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 representatives, and the upper Rhode Island Senate with 38 senators...
  
   resolution as part of the office of the Secretary of State. Its purpose is to assist members of the General Assembly with research on the preparation of proposed legislation. The State Library also includes a law library
  Law library
  A law library is a library designed to assist law students, attorneys, judges, and their law clerks and anyone else who finds it necessary to correctly determine the state of the law....
  
  .

External links

• Office of the Rhode Island Secretary of State, official homepage