Petition: Bring Same Day Registration to Rhode Island
Rhode Island General Assembly members
The 30-day voter registration requirement is the most significant barrier to voter participation in Rhode Island. We know from experience in other states that thousands of additional eligible voters will cast a ballot in our elections if that barrier is eliminated. To make this happen, the General Assembly must pass a resolution during the 2024 legislative session to put a constitutional amendment before Rhode Island voters, presenting them with the solution: eliminating the 30-day registration deadline.
Benefits of removing this arcane and bureaucratic restriction include:
Increasing turnout
Reducing the number of provisional ballots cast, most of which are rejected
Keeping the voting rolls cleaner
Closing the racial turnout gap
It is time for Rhode Island to make democratic participation easier for all eligible voters. Add your name and tell the General Assembly to put Same Day Registration on the ballot by passing H-7474 and S-2779!
Sponsored by
To:
Rhode Island General Assembly members
From:
[Your Name]
We believe that otherwise eligible voters should not be prevented from casting a ballot because of an arbitrary deadline. And we believe that our democracy is at its strongest when everyone participates. That's why we are urging the General Assembly to put a question on the ballot that would eliminate the arcane 30-day voter registration deadline.
Rhode Island’s 30-day voter registration deadline is the longest in the country and is a significant barrier to increased voter participation. In 2022, more than 1,000 voters were forced to cast a provisional ballot in Rhode Island, many of which were not counted, because of a lack of same-day voter registration.
Voting shouldn’t be this difficult - it is time that Rhode Island joins the twenty-two other states and the District of Columbia that allow voters to register and cast their ballots on the same day.
Every eligible voter in Rhode Island should be able to participate in our democracy. We are joining a growing coalition of Rhode Islanders calling for the General Assembly to put same-day registration on the ballot in November 2024. We support the Let RI Vote for Same Day Registration resolution (H-7474/S-2779) that would give Rhode Islanders the choice to eliminate the current registration requirement from the state constitution, thus paving the way for the General Assembly to implement same-day voter registration.