Let RI Vote Act Passes

As our rights to abortion and bodily autonomy are hanging in the balance with the real threat of Roe v Wade being overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, we are simultaneously facing uncertainty about what else we stand to lose. Regardless of our personal values or religious beliefs about abortion, it is imperative that we raise our voices in unison to support to a person’s right to what happens to their body.

For too long, there have been those who’ve remained comfortably silent on this issue because they feel it has no affect on their lives or personal decisions. But what they fail to realize is that if Roe is overturned there are other liberties that we all stand to lose with consequences which will in one way, or another reach our doorsteps.
Among the rights that could be potentially threatened are:

the rights of parents to homeschool their children or send them to religious schools
the right to access contraception – including outside of marriage
the rights of adults to refuse certain medical treatments
the right to same-sex relationships and marriage equality
rights that support and protect Transgender individuals
the right to interracial marriage.

This is bigger than abortion and it is about abortion and all that entails. This is a fight for our bodies, our families, and our communities. This is just the beginning – of the attacks and our commitment to FIGHT BACK! Get involved today as we build bigger plans to fight for some, not just a few.

Having the right to vote and get people elected that will uphold our values is the core to our Democracy. Today we got one step closer to that.

TODAY Rhode Island passed (a few) Voting Access Bills

This morning, Governor Dan McKee signed legislation to codify the Let RI Vote bills which passed in both houses of the General Assembly in May of this year. Thank you to Deb Kopech who represented us at the steering committee level and made a lot of impact.

This law has provisions that make voting in Rhode Island accessible to all eligible citizens by:

Mail Ballots:
- Allows people to vote by mail as right rather than an exception or for emergency reasons
- Provides for online mail ballot applications
- Eliminates the requirement mail ballot notarization or witness signature
- Eliminates the requirement to provide a reason for voting by mail or early rather than on Election Day
- Provides US Postal Service or secure ballot boxes at city/town hall or at the Board of Elections Headquarters for mail ballots
- Creates a permanent Absentee List for nursing home residents to opt-in to automatically receive an application for a mail ballot, no longer requiring mail ballot applications for each election’
Other important parts of the Law include:
- Multilingual Voter Information Hotline
- Change to Braille Ballot Application Deadline from 30 days prior to election to 21 days prior to election
- Early voting beginning 20 days prior to the election day
- Voter List Maintenance enhancements ensure records are up-to-date by requiring the Secretary of State to update the voter file a minimum of four times per year

To learn more, go to Let RI Vote.org