Republican Jeb Bush and Democrat Bernie Sanders have officially qualified to be on Rhode Island's ballot in their respective presidential primaries on April 26.

Thursday marked the deadline for all presidential candidates to submit their nomination papers. In Rhode Island, each candidate must gather 1,000 signatures from eligible voters with the signatures turned in to the boards of canvassers in the cities or towns where their backers are registered to vote.

That means that local boards of canvassers are now in the process of verifying signatures and reporting their tallies to the secretary of state.

So far, Bush and Sanders have hit 1,000 valid signatures as tallies have trickled in. Nicole Lagace, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, said other candidates will be recorded as officially qualifying for the ballot as tallies are updated over the next week.

Presidential candidates had until Jan. 23 to file their statements of intent to run and pick up nomination papers. Republicans who filed statements of intent are: Paij Boring, Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore, Mike Huckabee, John R. Kasich, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum and Donald Trump.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton, Roque "Rocky" de la Fuente, Lloyd Kelso, Martin O'Malley, Sanders, and Mark Stewart have filed.

The Rhode Island Republican Party is reporting that 12 Republican candidates have qualified for the ballot based on the party's unofficial inquiries to the 39 local boards of canvassers.

—jbogdan@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @JenniferBogdan