Providence – The Rhode Island Voting Access Coalition (RIVAC) and its partners recently sent a letter to Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, encouraging them to announce their opposition to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The act is anticipated to be brought before the U.S. Senate soon. Senator Reed has already expressed his disagreement with this legislation on the Senate floor.
“The SAVE Act would disenfranchise thousands of Rhode Island citizens, including married women and rural voters, by creating unnecessary obstacles to register to vote,” stated John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island. He continued by expressing gratitude to Senator Reed for recognizing the dangers posed to voting rights and advocating that both senators utilize any procedural measures to counteract the legislation.
The SAVE Act introduces restrictions that would prevent Rhode Islanders from using their standard driver’s license to register online and could create hurdles for married women whose names have changed, as even their original birth certificate might not suffice for registration.
RIVAC has worked extensively to reform election processes in Rhode Island over the last ten years, achieving milestones such as online voter registration in 2016 and automatic voter registration in 2017.
“The SAVE Act is a thinly veiled attempt to suppress voters under the guise of election integrity, disproportionately harming women—especially married women who’ve changed their names—and transgender voters. At the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island, we believe in removing barriers to the ballot box, not creating new ones that silence already marginalized voices,” commented Kelly Nevins, CEO of Women’s Fund of Rhode Island. She thanked Senator Reed for his strong opposition to the proposal.
The coalition’s letter was signed by several organizations including:
– ACLU of Rhode Island
– ARISE
– Better Elections Rhode Island
– Brown Votes
– Clean Water Action Rhode Island
– Climate Action Rhode Island
– Common Cause Rhode Island
– Housing Network of Rhode Island
– Jim Vincent, Civil Rights Advocate at Latino Policy Institute
– League of Women Voters of Rhode Island
– Ocean State Ranked Choice Voting
– Providence Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
– Rhode Island AFL-CIO
– Rhode Island Coalition of Black Women
– Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights
– Rhode Island Democratic Women’s Caucus
– Rhode Island KIDS COUNT
– Rhode Island NOW
– Rhode Island Working Families Power
– SEIU 1199NE
– The Womxn Project
– Women’s Fund of Rhode Island
Other endorsing organizations include HERspace, Judith Kaye Training & Consulting, Nora’s Haven, RI Poor People’s Campaign, The Persisters, and Toward an Anti-Racist North Kingstown.
###
