Saturday voting, other election changes proposed

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island voters in future elections would be able to cast their ballots on Saturdays, under one of several proposals in a legislative package submitted to the General Assembly by Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis.
The Saturday-voting bill would give voters a second day to go to the polls, in addition to the traditional Tuesday. Cities and towns would be required to open their polls on the Saturday before the Tuesday election, but would be allowed to decide how many polling places to open on Saturdays and for what hours.
“Saturday elections will take the pressure off business owners who struggle with employees’ need for flexibility on Election Day,” Mollis said in a prepared statement.
Chris Barnett, spokesman for Mollis, told the Providence Business News that the measure would apply to all federal, state and local elections, even special elections. If the bill passes, Saturday polling will be required for the Nov. 4 election that includes the contest for president, Barnett said.
In November, Mollis took advantage of a rare Saturday special election in Lincoln – a non-binding referendum asking voters what they thought of extended hours at the Twin River gaming facility; most were opposed – to poll voters on their reaction to casting ballots on what for many people is a day off. Ninety-five percent of voters with an opinion on the issue said they liked the opportunity to vote on Saturday.
The secretary of state’s seven-point legislative package also includes bills that would: require better marking of the no-canvassing zone around polls; expand them to include handicapped access ramps; increase voting-booth privacy; develop a more efficient means of purging names of the deceased from the state’s voter rolls; and prohibit Rhode Islanders from registering to vote from more than one address.
Mollis said the legislation stems from a series of public hearings and nationwide research conducted by his Voters First Advisory Commission. The nonpartisan 10-member panel will continue its work, he added, addressing such issues as improving voter-registration security and developing a voter identification system to better protect against fraud.
Additional information, including the report of the Voters First Advisory Commission, is available from the R.I. Secretary of State’s Office at www.sec.state.ri.us.
Information from the R.I. General Assembly, including the House and Senate daily calendars and listings of measures introduced each day, is available at rilin.state.ri.us.