PROVIDENCE, RI — When state Republicans gather at Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet for their annual RIGOP convention March 19, their more conservative members will be seeking support for a proposal to restrict Republican primaries to registered Republicans, and require that voters produce a photo identification before they are allowed to vote.
Republican Governor Carcieri pushed Vote ID last year, but it foundered on a shoal of objections from the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union and 20 other organizations, ranging from the AARP to Common Cause to the Commission for Human Rights.
Carcieri said in his mind there is “no downside.”
But the ACLU argued: “These laws disenfranchise eligible voters, pose a particular burden on poor, elderly, disabled and minority voters, and divert attention from more serious problems facing the voting process – all in an attempt to ‘fix’ a largely non-existent problem of alleged voter impersonation.”
On the primary front, anyone who is unaffiliated – which describes most of Rhode Island’s registered voters – can vote in either a Republican or Democratic primary now, and then disaffiliate again on their way out the door.
Both proposals have emanated from the Rhode Island Republican Assembly, which bills itself as the Republican wing of the Republican party…working to unite all conservatives — both economic and social — whose interests range from tax cuts and reform to national defense, from Pro-Life to education concerns, from Second Amendment to national sovereignty.”
Also on the agenda for the state Central Committee RIGOP Convention: the election of a state GOP chairman.
Asked today if he intended to step aside, the current state GOP chairman Giovanni Cicione e-mailed this response: “I was seeking a successor, but no such luck. The deadline for nominations has passed and I’m the only candidate. There are races for 1st Vice Chair (3 way) and Treasurer (2 way). 2nd Vice and Secretary have only a single candidate.”
“The voting will likely take up the bulk of the evening,” he said.
Source: The Providence Journal
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