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Funding for this internet site was provided by the Rhode Island
League of Women Voters Education Fund a 501(c)(3) organization. The Education Fund provides members of
the League of Women Voters, as well as the general public, with information and
educational services on elections and on current public policy issues.
Information in regard to
advocacy is not the intent of this internet site.
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- Voting Rights
(LWV US position)
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Campaign Finance
(LWV US position)
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Election procedures
(LWV RI position)
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Voting Procedures
(LWV RI position)
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A Unified and Computerized Voter Registration System
(LWV RI position)
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New Voting Machines and a New System for Recording and Counting Votes
(LWV RI position)
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Position on Redistricting
(LWV RI position)
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Other Voting and Elections Links
From the
Internet Guide to Government
The League of Women Voters of the United States believes
that voting is a fundamental citizen right that must be guaranteed, (LWVUS Position March 1982)
LWV US position
January 1974 and Revised March 1982
The League of
Women Voters of the United States believes that the methods of financing
political campaigns should ensure the public’s right to know, combat
corruption and undue influence, enable candidates to compete more
equitably for public office and allow maximum citizen participation in the
political process.
This position is
applicable to all federal campaigns for public office - presidential and
congressional, primaries as well as general elections. It also may be
applied to state and local campaigns.
Links
League of Women Voters of the United States
Almanac of Policy Issues
Public Agenda Online
electionline.org
Brennan Center
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LWV RI position
Updated April 25, 1998
April 1986 - Addition approved June 1986
Voter Registration
The League of Women
Voters of Rhode Island supports the registration of voters by mail.
Safeguards should be put in place to reduce the possibility of fraud.
Improved
accessibility of voter registration is supported. Procedures such as mail
registration and the availability of registration at the Registry of Motor
Vehicles are examples. To improve the minimum standards for the selection
of registrars, improvement in the training of those registrars, and brief
apprenticeships with experienced registrars. A verification of
registration should be given to the voter when person to person
registration occurs to encourage registrar accountability.
Mail Ballots
The application for
a mail ballot should be revised and simplified. The law requiring that a
mail ballot should be postmarked from the state to which it was mailed
should be eliminated.
Election Day Procedures
The law concerning
politicking inside and outside the polls should be enforced. Procedures
should be written on who enforces the law and how this enforcement is
carried out. Penalties should be included in the law for violations. The
law should to allow assignment of poll workers to any districts within the
city or town they reside in. All poll workers should be appointed, not
elected. Multi-media efforts should be made by Boards of Canvassers to
inform voters of polling place changes.
Links
Election Assistance Commission
EAC Research, Resources and Reports
National Association of Election Directors
National Association of Secretaries of State
Commission on Federal Election Reform or Carter-Baker Commission
League of Women Voters of the United States
electionline.org
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LWV RI position
January 8, 1996
Poll Workers
LWVRI recommends
that Boards of Canvassers be given increased authority and
responsibility for recruitment as well as for selection of poll
workers.
Except for party
primaries, poll workers should not be limited to members of the Democratic
and Republican parties. Unaffiliated voters should be eligible, and
members of other parties should not be excluded from appointment. To
safeguard election integrity, no polling place should be staffed by
members of a single party.
The State Board of
Elections training of poll workers should be strengthened and improved and
should include input from local boards. Smaller class size and more hands
on experience with machines exemplify changes LWVRI supports. LWVRI
supports mandatory training for poll workers before certification to work
at a poll. A reasonable certification period should be established, so
that workers need not repeat training unnecessarily.
LWVRI encourages
wider use of the half-day at half-pay provision currently in RI law.
Election Day/Polling Place
Because witnessing
disaffiliation signatures can consume an inordinate amount of a warden's
time during Primary elections, the law should permit an additional person
to be authorized to witness disaffiliation signatures.
Each polling place
should be required to have a "street index" of voting districts and a list
of polls for the entire city or town, or equivalent information, to assist
voters.
A method to provide
feedback from voters and poll workers should be provided at each polling
place.
Adequate outside
lighting at entrances and in parking areas at polling places should be
required by law. While recognizing that additional cost may be incurred in
some instances, LWVRI believes that safety of voters is of utmost
importance.
Mail Ballots
LWVRI supports the
concept of "no excuse" absentee voting, in which any voter may make
application and receive an absentee ballot without stating a reason. While
this method may present opportunities for fraudulent voting different from
the current method, appropriate safeguards would prevent the overall rate
of fraud from increasing.
LWVRI does NOT
support the concept of permanent "no excuse" absentee status, but believes
the voter must reapply for each election.
Early Voting
Early voting
procedures should be investigated by the state for feasibility of use in
Rhode Island.
Links
Election Assistance Commission
National Association of Election Directors
National Association of Secretaries of State
Commission on Federal Election Reform or
Carter-Baker Commission
League of Women Voters of the United States
electionline.org
Vote By Mail Video
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Multonah County Oregon - Elections Division
Back to Top
January 1995
The
League of Woman Voters of Rhode Island supports the state acquisition (or
lease) and maintenance of a unified and computerized voter registration
system for the 39 local Boards of Canvassers, state agencies, and the
Central Voter Registry. Voter registrations should be stored in a central
database. Duplicate data entry should be abolished. The new registration
system should take highest priority because Rhode Island
must meet the requirements of the national and Rhode Island Voting Rights
laws.
To ensure
the integrity of the registration process, criteria for the selection and
maintenance of the new registration system and for the procedures on the
use of the registration system must include:
* Security of registration, including protection against fraud and other
data loss. The following should be included:
* Audit trails.
* Maintenance of in-house expertise
* To
provide professional systems management of the whole voter registration
system.
* To assess independently any hardware, software, and support supplied by vendors.
* Timely updating, Interactive updating or daily batch processing should be the ideal.
* Privacy of all registration information except that legally required to be public.
* Accurate and efficient maintenance of registration records.
* Operating ease for both software and hardware.
* Collection and maintenance of all information required by law.
* Accurate and easy-to-use reports for:
* Polling place voter lists.
* Jury selection.
* Other
* A coordinate computerized system of street indexes:
* To
enable printing of accurate registration confirmation cards.
* To aid legislators in redrawing district lines.
* To aid Boards of Canvassers in selecting polling places.
* To provide a report by street that shows the districts and polling place of any address.
* Cost analysis, including hardware, software, personnel,
maintenance, phone lines, etc.
Links
Association
for Computing Machinery
Election Assistance
Commission
EAC 2004 Election Day Survey
National
Association of Election Directors
National Association of Secretaries of State
Commission on Federal Election Reform or Carter-Baker Commission
League of Women Voters of the United States
electionline.org
Back to Top
LWV RI position
January 1995, Amended August 2001
The
League of Women Voters of Rhode Island supports the following standards
for state acquisition (or lease) and maintenance of voting machines:
It is
essential that any equipment, systems, and procedures used for voting in
RI guarantee the integrity of the voting process and vote totals. The
basic criteria for selection and maintenance of the voting equipment and
for procedures on the use of the new voting system must include:
* Security of the vote, including protection against fraud and other data
loss. The following should be included:
* Audit trails
* Procedures that assure that the software programs used in voting machines
are identical to those deposited with the appropriate state office.
* Mandatory recount of a small percentage of the votes to confirm the
computerized results.
* Maintenance of in-house expertise
* To provide professional Systems management of the whole voting system.
* To assess independently any hardware, software, and support supplied by
vendors.
* Escrow of source code to protect the state in case of default of
the vendor.
* Privacy of the vote.
* Orderliness of voting.
* Accuracy of vote recording and summation. Rhode Island should adopt
formalized written procedures for testing, ensuring, and maintaining (as
recommended in National Bureau of Standards 500-158) the following:
* Logical correctness of the software and the system.
* Protection of software and data files from outside influences, such as
tampering and viruses.
* Accuracy of the voter's recording of his or her votes.
* A new absentee ballot system, integrated with the polling place system.
* A new computerized roll-up of vote totals from polling places (to sum the
statewide and local votes).
* Cost analysis, including hardware, software, personnel, ballots,
maintenance, etc.
At minimum, Rhode Island should adopt the Federal Election Commission Performance Standards for the
Purchase of Computerized Vote Tallying Systems.
RI should require regular review of laws and regulations to ensure accuracy,
integrity and security in computerized vote tallying.
Links
Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Voting Machines
and HAVA Implementation LWVUS
“Election Reform and Electronic Voting Systems”
Congressional Research Service .pdf
National Institute of Standards and Technology
National Academies of Sciences
Electronic Voting Report
"Federal Efforts to Improve Security and Reliability of Electronic Voting
Systems Are Under Way, but Key Activities Need to Be Completed"
U.S. Government Accountability Office .pdf
"2005
Voluntary Voting System Guidelines"
U.S. Election Assistance Commission
Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs
2006 Voting Equipment Study:
State-by-State Equipment Summary Election Data Services, Inc. .pdf
The Machinery of Democracy:
Voting System Security, Accessibility, Usability, and Cost
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The Brennan
Center for Justice - Voting Technology Assessment Project
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LWV RI position
Adopted February 2001
POSITION IN BRIEF: Support a state
redistricting process and standards that promote fair and effective
representation in the state legislature and in the U.S. House of
Representatives with maximum opportunity for public scrutiny.
Complete Position
and background information
Links
League of Women Voters of the United States
RI Reapportionment Commission
www.riredistricting.org
Back to Top
Internet Guide to
Government
Federal Election Commission
www.fec.gov
About Elections & Voting
www.fec.gov/pages/electpg.htm
HAVA
www.fec.gov/hava/hava.htm
Department of Justice -
Voting Rights Laws
www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting
Includes: The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act of 1986
The National Voter Registration Act of 1992 (Motor Voter)
The Help America Vote Act of 2002
Voting Overseas
www.fvap.gov
Election Assistance Commission
www.eac.gov
Voting Statistics
www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html
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Revised:
09/12/07.
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