Let RI Vote moves to House for consideration
(The Center Square) – A bill that would improve access and opportunities to vote in Rhode Island has passed the Senate.
Senate Bill 2007A, known as the Let RI Vote Act, sponsored by Sen. Dawn Euer, D-Newport, would work to ensure voters are protected during elections held during the pandemic and widens the use of mail-in ballots in future elections.
“It should be easy to access your right to vote,” Euer said in the release. “Giving voters options about when and how to cast their vote is a way to ensure that our elections really do produce results that reflect the will of the people – all the people. Rhode Island’s elections in 2020 showed that we can give voters options for casting their ballots while maintaining elections that are safe, smooth and secure, and that doing so significantly improves voter turnout.
“Removing the roadblocks that discourage voter participation brings our elections closer to what they are supposed to be – the opportunity for all Americans to have their say in their government.”
The bill now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Under the proposed bill, if enacted, it would ease mail voting by permitting the use of online mail ballot applications and remove provisions that require a voter using mail or emergency mail ballots to not provide a reason why they can’t vote in their precinct on election day.
The bill would also work to remove a requirement that ballots are signed by two witnesses or notarized. Signatures, under the bill, according to the release, would be verified using voter registration records under a tiered verification process.
Plus, each municipality would have to maintain at least one drop box where ballots can be dropped off through the close of the polls on election day in a secure manner. In addition, nursing home residents would be able to receive applications for mail ballots in future elections.
Seven states, including Alaska, Alabama, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota, require signatures on mail-in ballots and also the practice of having those ballots notarized, according to the National Notary Association.
Under the bill, the Secretary of State would be required to update voters lists four times each year. Braille ballot application deadlines would be reduced to 21 days, instead of 45, before an election, and a permanent multilingual voter information hotline would be established.
According to the release, during the 2020 election 62% of 522,488 residents either cast early ballots or mailed in their ballots. In 2016, just 9% mailed in their ballots as early voting was not an option.
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