The Rhode Island League of Women Voters is now barred from helping new citizens register to vote immediately after they become U.S. citizens.
For almost two years, the League has been registering new citizens to vote in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in Johnston. Last week, however, they were informed that they would no longer be allowed to do so because a new federal policy bars all non-partisan and non-governmental organizations, like the League, from registering new citizens at naturalization ceremonies.
The USCIS policy in question, issued on Aug. 29, states that “only state and local election officials will be permitted to offer voter registration services” going forward.
“This is another step to control who votes, because what this does is make it more difficult for new citizens to register to vote,” said Nina Rossomando, a former co-president of the Rhode Island League of Women Voters. “It really makes it harder for them to exercise what is a fundamental right of all citizens.”
Rossomando said that the National League of Women Voters is in the early stages of planning legal action in response to the policy.
She also went on to say that naturalization ceremonies are often happy affairs with new citizens being eager to participate in democracy.
“Many of them come from countries that are not democracies and they just seem very excited to finally be a U.S. citizen and become civically engaged,” Rossomando said. “Democracy is not a spectator sport.”
