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Recruit Volunteers and Future Candidates for Local and State Office

President Donald Trump’s Executive Orders on election administration (and the recent revelation that non-citizens have voted in NJ and CT while RI uses the same election software vendor) have once again focused national attention on election integrity. The executive orders called for stronger safeguards surrounding voter eligibility and mail ballots, while Rhode Island joined other states in challenging portions of it in court. The courts will ultimately decide where federal authority ends and state authority begins. But amid all the political debate, one truth should unite every Rhode Islander: Your vote matters. In fact, during a midterm election, it matters more than most people realize.

Midterm elections consistently attract fewer voters than presidential elections. In Rhode Island, only 44% of registered voters participated in the 2022 midterm election while 65% of voters turned out for the 2024 election. When turnout is lower, every ballot represents a larger share of the electorate. Mathematically, because turnout was much lower, a voter who participated in the 2022 midterm represented nearly 50% more of the voting electorate than a voter who participated in the 2024 presidential election. That means your single vote carries greater influence over the outcome. (See chart in comments.)

That isn’t just a mathematical exercise. Rhode Island elections repeatedly prove that a few dozen votes can determine who represents thousands of people. Elections that receive little statewide attention often have enormous consequences for healthcare, taxes, education, public safety, and the laws that govern our daily lives. In Rhode Island, recent examples include:

In 2024, in Senate District 29 in Warwick, the Democrat candidate defeated the incumbent Republican Senator by just 44 votes following a recount. Just dozens of votes determined who would represent thousands of Rhode Islanders in the State Senate. The Republican lost despite winning Election Day because his opponent built a substantial advantage in early and mail voting.

In 2022, in House District 21 in Warwick, the Republican candidate lost her race by only 33 votes, and in 2024, she won by 91 votes, demonstrating once again that legislative seats can be decided by only a small number of voters. These races illustrate the opposite lesson. Although the Republican trailed in early and mail voting, strong Election Day turnout carried her to victory in 2024 after narrowly losing the seat in 2022. Every legal vote mattered.

Overall, in 2024, 11% of Rhode Island voters cast their ballot by mail. And a third of Rhode Island voters cast their ballots early in 2024. You can use this interactive tool on the Secretary of State’s website to see how your community voted (see chart and link in comments.)

It is widely believed that Republicans prefer to vote in person. There is nothing wrong with that. Casting your ballot on Election Day is a proud tradition for many voters. But every Republican should also ask an honest question: Will I actually make it to the polls on Election Day? Work obligations, family commitments, illness, travel, bad weather, or unexpected emergencies can derail even the best intentions. If there is any doubt, consider taking advantage of Rhode Island’s legal early voting or mail ballot options. A vote cast legally by mail or during early voting counts exactly the same as a vote cast on Election Day. Requesting a mail ballot can be done in under one minute online. (And while you are there, please make sure everyone in your household of voting age is registered to vote. See link in comments.)

One thing is for certain: Republicans don’t lose elections because legally registered people vote early or by mail. They lose elections when Republicans who intended to vote never cast a ballot at all. In fact, tens of thousands of Rhode Island Republicans never cast their vote in the last midterm election. Waiting until the final day unnecessarily risks losing votes that could determine the outcome of a close race. If voting by mail or voting early is the difference between voting and staying home, choose the option that ensures your voice is heard.

The question isn’t whether your vote matters. Rhode Island’s recent elections have already answered that. The real question is whether you’ll make sure your vote is one of the ones that’s counted. Vote early. Vote by mail if you need to. Vote on Election Day if you can. Just don’t stay home.

8/10- Primary Election Voter Registration Deadline (Last Date to Register to Vote in the Primary)

8/19- Primary Election, Mail Ballot Deadline

8/20- Primary Election, Early Voting Begins

10/4- General Election, Voter Registration Deadline (Last Date to Register to Vote in the General)

10/13- General Election, Mail Ballot Request Deadline

10/14- General Election, Early Voting Starts

11/3- General Election Day

Rhode Island asks very little of the people who cir­cu­late nom­in­a­tion papers. Col­lect the sig­na­tures of registered voters and swear one sen­tence under oath: that each per­son signed in your pres­ence. That is the entire safe­guard.

It is the single mech­an­ism our law relies on to con­firm that the names on a can­did­ate’s papers are real, that the voters actu­ally signed, and that no one filled a page at a kit­chen table and called it demo­cracy.

When that oath means noth­ing, noth­ing behind it can be trus­ted. That is not a par­tisan obser­va­tion. It is the express hold­ing of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

In Boucher v. Begin, decided in 1997, the Court con­fron­ted a sit­ting state rep­res­ent­at­ive whose sworn affi­davit turned out to be false. It ruled that the wit­ness­ing require­ment in our elec­tion law is sub­stant­ive, not a tech­nic­al­ity. It must be met in fact, not merely in spirit. And a false affi­davit, the court held, can­not be used to val­id­ate sig­na­tures that were never signed in the col­lector’s pres­ence. The court went fur­ther, explain­ing that the require­ment exists pre­cisely to pre­vent nom­in­a­tion papers from being “left with a fam­ily or at a nurs­ing home for other voters to endorse.” The justices under­stood, nearly 30 years ago, exactly how this safe­guard gets abused.

We are watch­ing it get abused now, and not in isol­a­tion.

Rhode Island has lived through sig­na­ture scan­dals in three con­sec­ut­ive elec­tion cycles. Forged names, includ­ing names of the dead, appeared on a con­gres­sional cam­paign’s papers in 2023, and two cam­paign work­ers were sen­tenced. In 2024, forged sig­na­tures sur­faced on other fil­ings, and a state grand jury handed up indict­ments that the pub­lic did not learn about until this sum­mer. Two of those defend­ants remain at large. This year, chal­lenges over how sig­na­tures were gathered and attested have again landed before the Board of Elec­tions. The pat­tern is not subtle, and the pub­lic is right to be los­ing patience.

The fixes are known, and they keep dying at the State House. A bill to extend the com­pressed elec­tions cal­en­dar, which gives can­did­ates and object­ors barely a day to act, failed this year without so much as a Sen­ate hear­ing. A pro­posal to let voters sign and verify nom­in­a­tion papers through a secure online portal passed the House and stalled in a Sen­ate com­mit­tee. These are not rad­ical ideas. They are house­keep­ing, and the Gen­eral Assembly can­not be bothered to pass them.

So the bur­den falls where it should not have to fall, on ordin­ary can­did­ates will­ing to file an objec­tion and sit through a hear­ing to defend a rule every­one already agreed to fol­low. That is not how elec­tion integ­rity is sup­posed to work. It should not depend on a private cit­izen’s will­ing­ness to fight.

A con­ver­sa­tion needs to take place about what account­ab­il­ity does and does not mean. A can­did­ate accused of a false affi­davit is entitled to every pro­tec­tion the law affords, includ­ing the right to remain silent. But silence has con­sequences in a civil pro­ceed­ing, and a false oath has con­sequences for the sig­na­tures beneath it. Those are not pun­ish­ments inven­ted by the other party. They are the logical res­ult of the rules them­selves, writ­ten into our stat­utes and con­firmed by our highest court.

The Rhode Island Repub­lican Party is ask­ing for three things, none of which should be con­tro­ver­sial. Enforce the wit­ness­ing oath as the sub­stant­ive require­ment the Supreme Court says it is. Extend the elec­tion cal­en­dar so that chal­lenges can be brought and addressed fairly, and give the Board of Elec­tions clear, writ­ten guid­ance before the Septem­ber primary, not after it, so that can­did­ates on every side know the stand­ard in advance.

An oath is a prom­ise made under pen­alty of law. If we let it become a mean­ing­less sig­na­ture, we are not pro­tect­ing access to the bal­lot. We are hol­low­ing it out. Rhode Islanders of every party deserve bet­ter, and the fix is well within reach if our lead­ers would simply act.