News & Commentary

ACLU of RI has filed suit in federal court challenging Rhode Island’s ballot qualification process as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As Rhode Island elections officials move for the first time to conduct a predominantly mail ballot election for the Presidential primary on June 2nd, three voting rights groups have called on the state Board of Elections and Secretary of State to adopt a variety of policies to ensure that the specially-conducted election becomes “a successful experience in preserving the critical constitutional right” to vote “during such trying times.”

The 2018 Legislative Session seemed like it should be the year of #MeToo, but when the General Assembly adjourned at the end of June with an exhausting Saturday session (that almost went into Sunday) they failed to approve legislation ensuring equal pay for equal work, or any of the bills that emerged from a commission tasked with helping address sex harassment in the workplace.

Here’s a look at the top issues – including some big victories and losses – of 2017:

Yesterday a federal court ordered the release of information highlighting that Kris Kobach - the head of President Trump’s “Commission on Election Integrity,” - is dead set on undermining voting rights.  Unfortunately, attempts to make voting harder are also happening locally.

 

ACLU of RI executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement in response to the request from the “President’s Commission on Election Integrity” for detailed information from the Secretary of State about every voter: "The ACLU of Rhode Island is deeply concerned about the Presidential Commission’s request for detailed information on every registered voter in the country. There can be little question that this Commission has a preordained agenda aimed at promoting voter suppression. "Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea has pledged that she will not release to the Commission any information beyond what is already available to the public under Rhode Island law. We are confident that she will safeguard from disclosure any other personal information of the state’s voters that the Commission has requested. We will be prepared to assist in challenging any Commission efforts to obtain that additional information."

Our right to vote means little if the government imposes undue restrictions on who can run for office. Lately, we've witnessed a troubling trend to this effect. Earlier this week, we raised concerns about a proposal to bar candidates from running for office if they owed election fines. Now, the House Judiciary Committee is considering a bill that would require Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates to publicly disclose their federal tax returns in order to appear on the election ballot in Rhode Island. Because we believe that the burdens on qualifying for the ballot should be as minimal as possible, this requirement sets a troubling precedent and is poor policy.