As the midterm elections draw closer, Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore is assuring local voters that elections will be safe and secure in November. Amore’s reminder comes as President Trump continues to question the legitimacy of the election process following his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Amore sat down with Ocean State Media political reporter Ian Donnis to discuss keeping elections secure and fair, and the Trump administration’s attempts to obtain voter data.
Interview highlights
On the security of Rhode Island elections
Gregg Amore: Rhode Island is a leader around voter list maintenance. Rhode Island’s a leader in regard to getting information out to voters to make sure they have all the information they need. I can speak to Rhode Island, but I know for a fact, because I’m a part of the National Association of Secretaries of State, that it looks similarly in all states. All states attempt to do the same voterless maintenance (and) attempt to make sure they have outreach (to) make sure that their elections are secure and safe.
On whether he expects federal encroachment into local elections
Amore: I think it’s important to understand that there are federal laws in place that make sure that there are not military forces or federal agents in or around polling locations. That is something that is foundational to this American experiment. I hope, and I think, that will continue.
On Republican redistricting efforts
Amore: It’s unprecedented for the president of the United States to ask states to redistrict mid-decade. The response, I suppose, is natural. I would prefer an independent redistricting process that is similar to what California had prior to this effort to redistrict in mid-decade. I think every state should engage, including ours, in an independent redistricting process.
On what’s at stake in a U.S. Supreme Court case involving the Voting Rights Act
Amore: I think if the case goes the way that it appears it will, based on the early processes in this case where the conservative justices have been leaning in their questioning, toward eliminating the idea that there’s a protected class and that redistricting should take into consideration race; if that is dismantled, so too is the Voting Rights Act.
The case is based in Louisiana. If you look at what the redistricted map created, it created one black majority district out of six total districts in a state that has 33% black population. It did exactly what the Voting Rights Act tried to prevent in 1965. I think it has a devastating impact on representation, especially for those protected communities.
On the impact of election denial on democracy
Amore: I think (President Trump has) doubled down on his belief that the 2020 election was stolen. I think every opportunity he has, he talks about the need for certain types of elections reform. Our state is subject to a DOJ lawsuit around the administration of elections. This attempt to sow doubt around the process is part of the playbook. When you’re asking Secretaries of State – elections administrators – to violate federal and state law and hand over private information from Rhode Island citizens, in our case, you are undermining the confidence in elections because what you want out of that request is for people to say, “Why don’t you turn that information over? What are you hiding?”
election
It’s really ironic to me that someone ran on “law and order” and then wants secretaries of state to ignore the law – to ignore state law, to ignore federal law, the Privacy Act, the E-Government Act – and hand over information. We are very confident that the way we maintain our voter lists is beyond what is required by federal law. That’s a perfect example of an attempt to undermine confidence in elections.
