Tuesday’s primary election in Rhode Island is for voters to choose their preferred presidential candidate and their party’s delegates for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions. The Democratic National Convention is Aug. 25-28 in Denver, Colo., and the Republican National Convention is Sept. 1-4 in St. Paul, Minn.

WHO MAY VOTE: All who have been registered to vote in their current city or town for at least the past 30 days.

The largest slice of Rhode Island voters is made up of independents — dubbed “unaffiliated voters” in state political argot — and they can vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries on Tuesday.

While the independents may choose either primary, enrolled Republicans are eligible only to vote in the GOP primary and registered Democrats can vote only in their party’s primary.

An independent who decides to vote in either party primary may retain his or her independent status by asking poll workers for a disaffiliation form and signing it on the way out of the polling place.

The state has 350,752 independent voters, compared with 236,621 Democrats and 75,923 Republicans, according to figures from the secretary of state’s office. In the last year, 43,000 new voters have been added to the state’s voter rolls.

SAMPLE BALLOTS

To see what the ballots will look like in the voting booths, sample ones are reproduced on D5.

POLLING PLACES

The Providence Journal published lists of polling places in the local news sections on Friday and will publish them in the Tuesday local news sections. The lists are also available at: projo.com/news/politics/

Most of the 177 polling places open at 7 or 8 a.m., and all close at 9 p.m. Any voter who is in line at a polling booth by 9 p.m. is eligible to cast a ballot.

Local canvassing boards will be open on Tuesday to help guide voters seeking information, says Chris Barnett, spokesman for the secretary of state’s office.

The secretary of state’s office will also provide voter information at: www.state.ri.us/vic. Voters who do not know where they are supposed to vote can locate their polling place by logging in and providing their street address. The office can also be reached at (401) 222-2340.

The same Web site also contains sample ballots, polling places and opening times for all of Rhode Island’s 39 communities.

ELECTION RESULTS

The Journal’s Web site, projo.com, will provide continuous news reports and updates of primary results after the polls close at 9 p.m.