Press Release

"Passage of The Let RI Vote Act is a watershed moment for voting rights in Rhode Island. This is the culmination of years of hard work by dozens of organizations and thousands of Rhode Islanders."

The state’s groundbreaking 2012 law was the state’s response to the 2010 Citizens United decision. It requires groups spending to influence Rhode Island elections, independent of the candidates themselves, to report information about their donors who funded the advertising.

The brief claims the court disregarded compliance with various critical environmental regulations and standards, including those requiring public involvement.

Today, more than 20 statewide organizations sent a letter to the members of Rhode Island’s Special Committee on Reapportionment, urging them to end the harmful practice of prison gerrymandering. With a single vote, the committee can immediately enact this change so the data can be updated before drawing new district maps.

ACCESS/RI, a coalition of groups working for open government in Rhode Island, sent a letter to Governor Daniel McKee urging him to issue an executive order that would allow public bodies to once again hold online meetings and require public bodies to provide remote access for members of the public. The coalition made the request in light of the current wave of infections caused by the Delta variant of Covid-19.

Rhode Island’s political spending transparency rules have been upheld by a federal appeals court, which held that “a well-informed electorate is as vital to the survival of a democracy as air is to the survival of human life.”