Legislation

The House has passed legislation to require photo identification of voters at the polls. The Affiliate and other civil rights groups lobbied against its passage.

Two separate pieces of voting rights legislation have been approved by the Senate.

In response to the ACLU’s successful court case on behalf of the Moderate Party of RI, a bill was introduced to reduce from 5% to 1% the percentage of signatures required for a group to qualify for political party status.

Designed to strengthen the franchise in Rhode Island, the legislation would overturn restrictive Board of Elections’ policies that substantially limit the counting of provisional ballots and restrict the rights of candidates to view disputed ballots during recounts of close elections.

Opposition from the state Board of Elections and the creation by the Secretary of State of a commission to review voting issues kept a comprehensive election reform bill drafted by the ACLU from moving forward.

On the more positive side, no action was taken on legislation requiring individuals to provide certain forms of identification in order to vote at the polling booth.

In a major victory for civil rights, the General Assembly approved sending to the voters in November 2006 a proposed constitutional amendment to restore the right to vote to felons upon release from incarceration.

ACLU intervention helped kill a bill that would have authorized the Town of Westerly to allow non-resident property owners to vote in certain town elections and serve on the Town’s finance board.

Showing that it’s never too late to do the right thing, the General Assembly enacted legislation redrawing Senate district lines around the metropolitan Providence area.