News & Commentary

Seeking to vindicate the free speech rights of political candidates and their supporters, the ACLU has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a Pawtucket ordinance that bans the posting of political signs on residential property more than 30 days before an election.

In a victory for voting rights R.I. Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter today ruled unconstitutional a policy of the Bonnet Shores Fire District (BSFD) in Narragansett that bars residents from voting if they own less than $400 of property in the district.

We filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of a lawsuit challenging a policy of the Bonnet Shores Fire District (BSFD) which bars residents from voting if they own less than $400 of property in the district.

The ACLU has filed a complaint letter with the RI Board of Elections over a decision by the Woonsocket Board of Canvassers to move a polling place with a large number of non-white and low-income voters to a location outside the district.

In an important win for voting rights, the Supreme Court has rejected efforts by the RNC to block Rhode Island from eliminating onerous witness/notary requirements for vote by mail in 2020.

Statements from voting rights groups about GOP appeal of mail ballot case to SCOTUS.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has unanimously upheld implementation of a consent agreement that suspends RI’s witness/notary requirements for voting by mail in the September and November 2020 elections.

A federal lawsuit has been filed challenging Rhode Island’s witness/notary requirements for voting by mail in 2020 elections.

With only 10 weeks until Rhode Island’s September 8 primary, 16 organizations concerned about voting rights are urging state officials to take “immediate executive actions” to fix voting problems experienced on June 2.