Election Reform
Supporters of the “National Popular Vote” interstate compact for Presidential elections frequently explain that one of their goals is to have to have Presidential candidates pay attention to more than just a handful of “swing states” during their general election campaigns. But Rhode Island has the ability to increase its share of Presidential campaign attention…
We’ve finally gotten there, it’s time to fully eliminate political parties in RI. I’ve long advocated for this as the whole party system is extremely antiquated anyway. The only real purpose they served was in a time when it was very hard to disseminate information to everyone, where farmers could be miles separated from their…
Simon Van Zuylen-Wood–Brown grad and writer for the liberal New Republic–has written a piece trying to explain how “blue” Rhode Island has joined “red” states in passing a Voter ID law. His first instinct is that it’s about race. The perpetrators are all Hispanic and the accusers are mostly not. This underlines what is most…
When Rhode Island passed voter-ID into law this past summer, the RI Chapter of the ACLU responded by saying it had been passed “in order to address a non-existent problem of in-person voter fraud”. State Representative Charlene Lima, who has introduced a bill in this legislative session to repeal voter ID, told WPRO radio (630AM)…
As Patrick points out, while, apparently, voter fraud happens in Florida, it can’t happen here….right? Breitbart has more: A local Florida station invented an unprecedented way to check for voter fraud: jury excusal forms. NBC2 compiled a list of jury excusals based on not being a citizen of the United States and compared it to…
We’ve heard State Rep Charlene Lima liken Rhode Island’s new voter ID law to “Jim Crow”. We’ve heard from people like Dr. Pablo Rodriguez that it is “a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.” And Providence immigration lawyer, Roberto Gonzalez said in reference to the law “They based their support on some perceived fraud…
Rep Charlene Lima (D-Cranston) has put in a bill to repeal Rhode Island’s new voter id law. What’s interesting is that, in her arguments, Rep Lima is attempting to shift the metric by which the need for voter i.d. is measured. Until now, opponents of voter i.d. have argued against its implementation by attempting to…
Though I was as surprised as Justin at its passage, bravo that Rhode Island has put a voter i.d. law on the books. Arguments were made against the measure right until and even after Governor Chafee signed the bill, however. Rep Larry Valencia went so far as to say that we would be fixing a…
Justin wonders if there’s a catch with the ease with which voter ID sailed through the legislature and the Governor’s inbox. Here’s a theory for you: RI GOP Chair Ken McKay was in for WHJJ’s Helen Glover this morning and had on someone from GOLOCALProv touting their story about the disparity between census data and…
Voter ID legislation moved along with surprisingly little fanfare, so much so that opponents weren’t sure that Governor Chafee had signed until three days after the fact. Perhaps I’m just too cynical, but I can’t help but feel as if I’m missing something. The bill text is somewhat light on details, so I suspect that…