"Ballot Harvesting" (H 7830)

As a piece of explicit voter suppression legislation, we opposed this bill which sought to criminalize “ballot harvesters,” but was so broadly worded that it could have subjected every single voter in Rhode Island to potential prison time if passed.

As a piece of explicit voter suppression legislation, we opposed this bill which sought to criminalize “ballot harvesters,” but was so broadly worded that it could have subjected every single voter in Rhode Island to potential prison time if passed. The bill, among other problematic provisions, defined a “ballot harvester” as any “person or organization with a vested […] interest in the outcome of a campaign,” which, by virtue of the action of voting, every person who casts a ballot theoretically has. Positively, this bill died in committee.