When a Rhode Island bill meant to counter the weakening of voting rights at the federal level was unveiled in March, it seemed to have all the support necessary to make it into a law.
The sponsors were Senate President Val Lawson (D-East Providence) and House Majority Leader Katherine Kazarian (D-East Providence), the second-ranking Democrat in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.
Secretary of State Gregg Amore was at the State House for the launch event staged by the Rhode Island Voting Access Coalition, and U.S. Reps. Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo shared supportive comments.
But as the General Assembly races toward what is expected to be the last day of the 2026 legislative session on Friday (June 12), the voting rights bill will not get a vote.
That angers Jocelyn Foye, executive director of the activist group The Womxn Project, a member of the coalition supporting the bill.
The Rhode Island Voting Rights Act “directly protects Black and brown people, and killing this bill when our federal government and other states are attacking the voting rights of these exact groups sends a message,” Foye said in an email. “Whether our legislators mean it to or not, their decision suggests that the voting rights of black and brown people are not a priority, and that these communities aren’t worth protecting.”
In a joint statement, Amore, Lawson and House Speaker Chris Blazejewski described the bill’s failure to receive a vote this year as a temporary setback.
“It is imperative that we enact as strong, enforceable, and defensible a bill as possible,” they said. “With those priorities in mind, we recognize there is more work to do.”
Amore, Blazejewski and Lawson continued: “As drafted this year, the provisions of the Voting Rights Act would not take effect until the 2028 election cycle. Therefore, we will work over the course of the off-session to put forward as strong a bill as possible for consideration in 2027 and will continue to prioritize the Voting Rights Act in the upcoming session.”
The steering committee for the Voting Rights Act Coalition said there’s still time in this session to pass the bill this year.
“Thousands of Rhode Islanders have sent postcards and emails, made phone calls, attended lobby days, and waited hours to testify because they believe the Rhode Island Voting Rights Act is needed,” said the coalition. “We are grateful to each and every one of them for their work, particularly the organizations representing communities of color whose rights have disappeared with the decimation of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.”
A string of Supreme Court decisions has largely undone the Voting Rights Act.
John Marion, executive director of Common Cause of Rhode Island – a member of the coalition – said Rhode Island is effectively operating “without a net” for voter protections as a result.
He pointed to how Pawtucket is under a federal consent order through the 2028 elections for violating the federal Voting Rights Act, although the order is not being enforced by the Trump administration’s Justice Department.
“We need to have state-level oversight that would allow the AG or a group like Common Cause or a voter in Pawtucket to be able to go after Pawtucket if it doesn’t live up to what it promised the Biden DOJ when they sued them in 2024,” Marion said.
