Legislation

We strongly supported legislation which would have bolstered the right to vote at the ACI by requiring the posting of voting rights information in its facilities and the appointment of a “jail voting coordinator” to assist incarcerated voters.

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.

Though we strongly supported the goal of ensuring more eligible voters are added to the voter rolls, we opposed legislation which would have allowed the DMV to make determinations about a person’s citizenship for purposes of automatically registering them to vote.

We supported this resolution which would have expressed state solidarity in the campaign for D.C. statehood, noting that it is in line with basic tenets of civil rights, equity, and democratic representation.

We supported a repeal of this law which requires all voters in RI to present photo ID at the polls on Election Day, noting that it presents an unnecessary barrier to eligible voters who may not have ready access to a photo ID.

The ACLU once again supported legislation to permanently rectify a disparity in voter representation and require all incarcerated individuals to be counted, for voting purposes only, at their last known address.

Following 2020’s extraordinary voter turnout after the implementation of early in-person voting and less burdensome mail ballot procedures, we supported comprehensive legislation which would codify some of these voting processes for all future elections.

We supported this proposed constitutional amendment which would remove the state Constitution’s onerous requirement that bars individuals from voting in an election, except for President, unless they have registered to vote at least 30 days in advance, one of the longest time periods in the country.

Throughout the redistricting process – by which legislative districts are redrawn in Rhode Island every ten years – our organization has been vigilantly defending the need to simultaneously address the issue of prison gerrymandering.