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Rhode Island Voter Registration Forms Will No Longer List Any Political Parties

Posted on July 21, 2011 by admin

According to this story in the Providence Journal, the Rhode Island State Board of Elections has redesigned the voter registration form, so that the form no longer lists the qualified parties. Instead the voter will be asked to write-in his or her party on a blank line on the petition form.

Rhode Island has three qualified parties, Democratic, Republican, and Moderate. The Moderate Party has criticized the new forms, because not listing the qualified parties has a disproportionate effect on the Moderate Party. Many, if not most, voters don’t know that the Moderate Party is a ballot-qualified party. The Board says the new forms will save money, because under the old policy, every time a new party qualified, the forms had to be reprinted. Thanks to Ken Block for the link.

Comments

Rhode Island Voter Registration Forms Will No Longer List Any Political Parties — No Comments

Demo Rep on July 21, 2011 at 10:39 am said:

Will the MORON board inform the Electors about the current qualified parties ???

How EVIL are the New Age rotted regimes ???
Doremus Jessup on July 21, 2011 at 11:30 am said:

“every time a new party qualified” – And just how many times would this be? I can just see the new problem here with “write-in his or her party on a blank line” and each misspelling being listed as a different party.
Richard Winger on July 21, 2011 at 2:56 pm said:

The Moderate Party is the only party that has ever successfully completed the Rhode Island 5% party petition. That petition procedure has existed since 1994.

However, in the past 18 years, other third parties in Rhode Island became ballot-qualified, by running a nominee for President or Governor who got over 5% of the vote. They include the Reform Party, the Cool Moose Party, and the Green Party.
Evan on July 22, 2011 at 7:59 am said:

It would also be easier if we had everyone register online instead of wasting any paper at all… seriously, just go to https://registertovote.org and do it there. You may save a tree and will definitely save some time.
Mike Rollins on July 26, 2011 at 12:50 am said:

Here in North Providence, Rhode Island I was allowed to register as a Libertarian, back in the late Nineties, even though the LPRI has never been an official “major” party. I was also allowed to vote in another party’s primary while a registerred Libertarian. At that time all voter registrations were done at the local city or town level, and I don’t know what the policies were in other parts of this state. Now that voter registrations are in the process of slowly becoming centralized at the statewide level, I no longer know what the official policy currently is, or will eventually be.