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 referred to the R.I. Senate Judiciary Committee.
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…