December 3, 2025

Contact: Communications@RI.GOP

Republican Party of Rhode Island Challenges Secretary of State as DOJ Lawsuit Highlights Crisis of Transparency in Elections.

Warwick, RI: “The Secretary of State continues to withhold fundamental voter-registration records from the public, and Rhode Islanders deserve to know why. When the state’s top elections officer refuses transparency, the question becomes unavoidable: What are they hiding?

For months, Rhode Islanders have heard assurances that our elections are “secure, fair, and accessible.” Yet one essential element is consistently missing from that promise: transparency. Without it, the rest is nothing more than political marketing.

This concern is not hypothetical.

The Republican Party of Rhode Island’s Special Committee on Election Integrity formally requested the same full and unredacted statewide voter list from the Secretary of State’s Office that Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and her team requested, and we were also denied. When both the public and federal investigators are being stonewalled, it raises serious red flags about the accuracy and legality of our voter rolls.

Notably, the DOJ has now sued the Secretary’s office for refusing, as it did in Rhode Island, to turn over full statewide voter-registration lists to federal investigators.

That lawsuit underscores the gravity of what’s at stake: this isn’t just political posturing, it is a federal court matter. If there truly is nothing improper on the rolls, then turning over the files should be no problem. The refusal looks less like protection of privacy than protection of something else.

If every registration is valid, if every record complies with state and federal law, and if everyone on the rolls is truly eligible to vote, then there is no reason to hide anything. Transparency should inspire confidence, not fear. Rhode Islanders deserve that confidence.

And let’s be honest: the idea that the state is “protecting our privacy” is laughable. Over 700,000 Rhode Islanders had their personal information stolen under the Deloitte debacle. The state failed to safeguard our data then, but now suddenly claims secrecy is necessary to “protect” us? That’s not credibility, that’s a convenient excuse.

Elections belong to the people, not to bureaucrats. Rhode Islanders have every right to see the books, verify the rolls, and understand exactly who is registered to vote in this state. Anything less invites doubt, suspicion, and mistrust — and that is the opposite of election integrity.

It’s time for the Secretary of State to stop hiding behind political narratives and start respecting the people he serves.

Open the records. Show the data. Restore public trust. 

Rhode Islanders deserve nothing less.”