Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis released the state's official 2010 election calendar, which gives Warwick voters and candidates their first glimpse at all the key deadlines and milestones in this year's elections.

“I had the privilege of overseeing Rhode Island’s record-breaking elections in 2008. More Rhode Islanders registered to vote and more turned out at the polls than at any other time in state history. I hope this year will be just as historic,” said Mollis.

The calendar includes a detailed list of crucial dates in the 2010 races for offices ranging from town council to Governor of Rhode Island to the U.S. House of Representatives. There is no race for U.S. Senate this year.

Warwick has 60,083 registered voters heading into the 2010 election season.

“You will find key deadlines and basic facts about everything from registering to vote to filing declarations of candidacy and nominating papers. This guide also contains important dates and details regarding the campaign finance regulations,” said Mollis.

April 1 is the first crucial date in the calendar. Candidates who are affiliated with one of the state’s three recognized parties – Democratic, Republican or Moderate – have until April 1 to change their party affiliation if they plan to run under a different party’s banner.

Candidates must officially announce their intention to run for office by filing declarations of candidacy from June 28-30. The next important milestone is July 7 through July 16, when candidates must collect the signatures of enough eligible voters to officially put them on the ballot. The threshold ranges from 50 signatures for the state House of Representatives to 100 for state Senate to 500 for the U.S. House of Representatives and most statewide offices to 1,000 signatures for governor.

Rhode Islanders have until Aug. 14 to register to vote in order to cast ballots in the Sept. 14 state primary. Oct. 2 is the deadline for registering to vote in the Nov. 2 general election.

The election calendar is posted on the Secretary of State's website at sos.ri.gov. Hardcopies of the 26-page booklet are available upon request.