Same-Day Voter Registration campaign seeks to increase voting access in R I browndailyherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from browndailyherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
PROVIDENCE – A record number of voters, many of them casting ballots by mail, turned out for the 2020 General Election. Spurred by a new, pandemic-inspired system that opened up
Kathleen Connell
Kathleen Connell is state director of AARP Rhode Island. She served as Rhode Island s secretary of state from 1987 to 1993.
I’ve served in a variety of roles over the course of my career, including as secretary of state. For the past 20 years, I have been the state director of AARP Rhode Island. I am preparing to retire in the coming weeks, and as I leave, I urge the Rhode Island General Assembly to adopt the legislation in the Let RI Vote campaign (H6003/S0516 and H5983/S0569) being led by the 27-member Voting Access Coalition.
Rhode Island’s mail ballot laws are among the most restrictive in the United States. We are one of only three states, along with Alabama and North Carolina, that require the signature of two witnesses or a notary public on a mail ballot. That requirement was lifted, due to the pandemic, for the last four elections without any negative consequences. It should be permanently removed, and election officials should rely on the enhanced s