PROVIDENCE – The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island is suing the state, challenging the witnesses or notary requirement for vote-by-mail ballots in the upcoming 2020 elections.
The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in tandem with the Campaign Legal Center and the law firm Fried Frank on behalf of Common Cause Rhode Island, the League of Women Voters of Rhode Island and three Rhode Islanders with medical vulnerabilities that put them and their family members at a heightened risk of severe illness or death if they contract COVID-19.
Currently, voters that vote by mail will need two witnesses or a notary to be present when the voter signs the certifying envelope containing a vote ballot for it to be counted as valid. If the signature is performed in front of witnesses, the witnesses are required to provide their addresses on the form.
“Removing the witness and notary requirement in the midst of a deadly pandemic is a common-sense solution that protects people’s health and their right to vote,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island.
The lawsuit argued that the voter-witness interaction required by such a rule violates recommended social-distancing guidelines. The lawsuit also claims that Rhode Island is “especially vulnerable to the risk of suppressed voter participation during the COVID-19 pandemic,” and said that Rhode Islanders’ “constitutional right to vote cannot be conditioned on their willingness to subject themselves, their families and their communities to a heightened risk of COVID-19.”
The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order, preliminary and permanent injunctions, as well as a declaratory judgement that would allow voters in the state to vote by mail-in-ballot in the 2020 elections without involving a witness or notary.
The requirement had been waived for the June presidential primary elections due to COVID-19 concerns.
“Senior citizens, Black, Latinx, disabled, and income-sensitive individuals are isolating because of their higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19,” said Jane Koster, president of the League of Women Voters of Rhode Island. “They cannot safely comply with the absentee ballot requirements to invite another person into their environment. These are the same communities who disproportionately struggle with ballot access, and now they are having to choose between their safety and their right to vote.”
