On March 31, legislators and advocates held a bill launch at the Rhode Island State House for the R.I. Voting Rights Act, which aims to protect Rhode Islanders against voter suppression and vote dilution. The proposed legislation comes in the face of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which entered consideration in the U.S. Senate on March 17 — a week before the RIVRA was introduced.
The RIVRA was introduced “at the request of the Secretary of State Gregg M. Amore,” Faith Chybowski, director of communications and public affairs for the R.I. Department of State, wrote in an email to The Herald.
Chybowski wrote that Amore has “serious concerns” about the SAVE Act’s “impact on the accessibility of elections for Rhode Island voters, especially married individuals who have changed their name.” A proposed SAVE ACT clause would require these voters to provide an explanation for why the name on their birth certificate does not match the name on their other identifying documents.
John Marion, executive director of Common Cause R.I., told The Herald that the organization finds the SAVE Act and previous iterations passed by the House of Representatives “both unnecessary” and “potentially devastating for eligible voters, particularly married women.”
“Since women are more likely than men to change their names after marriage, they are disproportionately impacted by these requirements,” Angela Lima, chief of government relations at the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island, wrote in an email to The Herald.
She added that “women in this situation may need to provide additional documentation, such as a marriage certificate, to verify their identity” which “can be especially difficult for those who were married many years ago or who no longer have easy access to official records.”
The SAVE Act would also introduce a proof-of-citizenship requirement — but not all voters hold documents that would fulfill this requirement, such as passports and Enhanced Driver’s Licenses.
Marion stated that about half of Americans are not in possession of passports. In Rhode Island, over 400,000 citizens are estimated to not have valid passports. Additionally, EDLs are only offered in New York, Vermont, Michigan, Minnesota and Washington.
“If the federal Voting Rights Act and our long-held rights are going to face attacks in Washington, D.C., it’s up to us to enshrine Rhode Islanders’ rights in State law,” Amore wrote in a statement shared with The Herald.
According to Chybowski, the purpose of the R.I. Voting Rights Act is “to codify the protections in the federal Voting Rights Act to ensure Rhode Island’s elections are fair and accessible.”
She added that the act protects against both voter suppression, which she defined as discrimination “that limits a voter’s access to voting opportunities or participation in any part of the political process,” and vote dilution, a practice that she said involves “the drawing of voting districts that weaken or cancel out the voting strength of racial minorities.”
The RIVRA also allows individuals, groups and the attorney general “to bring legal action against any jurisdiction that subjects voters to suppressive voting tactics or dilutes the power of their vote,” Chybowski added.
The act also “codifies and expands” a federal requirement mandating select municipalities with high percentages of non-English-speaking voters provide bilingual ballots, Chybowski wrote. Additionally, the act ensures “assistance with voting or at any stage in the process” for people with disabilities, she wrote.
Marion told The Herald that while “The Rhode Island Voting Rights Act could not prevent the SAFE Act from preempting Rhode Island State law” codifying protections in state law would reduce a reliance on federal courts to enforce voting rights.
Lima wrote that the act’s addition of “marital status” as a protected category “strengthens protections against discrimination by making it illegal for voting practices or procedures to disadvantage someone because they are single, married, divorced or widowed.”
“We are committed to showing up in communities, attending local events and helping people understand what the legislation does and why it matters,” Lima wrote.
Annika Melwani is a metro senior staff writer covering state politics and justice. She is from New York City and plans on concentrating in English and International and Public Affairs. In her free time, she can be found reading or drinking an iced vanilla latte.
