News & Commentary

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.

Governor Gina Raimondo has announced the introduction of a “Good Government Reform” package of legislation designed to “restore confidence in government.” There’s a lot to be said for that, but one of the proposals – barring candidates who owe campaign fines from running for office – should be rejected.

Coming on the heels of false allegations by President Trump of widespread voter fraud, the ACLU of Rhode Island today issued a report indicating that some lawful voters were turned away from the polls in November due to the state’s controversial voter ID law. The report documented a number of other concerns based on observations from a few dozen ACLU volunteer poll monitors during the 2016 general election. The findings generally mirror those contained in a report the ACLU issued after the 2012 Presidential election.

ACLU of RI executive director Steven Brown issued the following statement today in response to President Trump’s call for an investigation into alleged widespread voter fraud:

The electoral race between Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello and his Republican challenger Steven Frias has, for obvious reasons, drawn an incredible amount of attention.  Both candidates are working very hard to capture every vote they can in their district. But one exceptional aspect of their race has gone unmentioned: they have fewer people to convince to vote for them than in all but one other House district.

The following statement was issued today by representatives of the ACLU of Rhode Island, Demos, the Prison Policy Initiative and the ACLU:

In a precedent-setting ruling, U.S. District Judge Ronald Lagueux issued a decision today holding that the City of Cranston violated the one person, one vote requirements of the U.S. Constitution when it allocated the entire incarcerated population of the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) as “residents” of one ward of the City when it drew district lines for the City Council and School Committee following the 2010 Census.  The ruling allows the City 30 days to present the Court with a new redistricting plan meeting constitutional requirements.

The ACLU of Rhode Island today commended Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea for introducing, the General Assembly for passing, and Governor Gina Raimondo for signing legislation adopting online voter registration for the state’s residents, and particularly for addressing voters with disabilities.