The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet this Tuesday 3/31/09. 

 

Among the bills being considered is Senate Bill 0203, sponsored by Senators Bates and O'Neill.  Bill 0203 proposes modifying Rhode Island's ballot access laws by removing the start date when a new party can begin collecting signatures to qualify for ballot access.  0203 also proposes lowering the threshold for signature petitions to 1%, down from 5% mandated under current law.

 

Rhode Island has the nation's most restrictive ballot access laws.  Never in the history of US elections has a political party qualified for the ballot with a 5% threshold for signatures and any kind of time limit on the timeframe for collecting the signatures.  Only twice in history has any political party qualified for the ballot with a 5% signature requirement: George Wallace did it in California in 1968, and the California Progressive Party did it in 1938.

 

The national average for signature petition thresholds is under 2%.

 

Ballot access law should not make impossible the participation of any group or organization in the democratic process by placing insurmountable hurdles to access to the ballot.

The Committee hearings typically take place 'after the rise', which is expected to occur tomorrow at 4:30pm or so.

 

Representatives from the Moderate Party of Rhode Island will attend this hearing and testify to the Committee.