RI Dems convention split leaves no endorsements for governor, LG and AG

Bad news for McKee and Matos

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Neither Gov. Dan McKee nor challenger Helena Foulkes will get the top spot and asterisk signaling the party endorsement on the September primary ballot after the Rhode Island Democratic Party declined to endorse either at its state committee convention Saturday.

The outcome marks yet another setback for McKee, who will be the first sitting governor in at least recent history not to win the backing of his party, said Joe Fleming, a WPRI 12 political analyst.

“I don’t recall an incumbent governor ever not winning the endorsement, and I’ve been around a long time,” Fleming said in an interview Monday. “This is not a good sign for the governor.”

McKee received 81 votes to Foulkes’ 75, while 11 voting committee members opted not to endorse, according to vote totals shared by the Rhode Island Democratic Party. To secure party backing, candidates need to get 50% of all votes cast plus one — or 84 of the 167 committee members who cast ballots at the Teamsters Local 251 union hall in East Providence Saturday.

Big win for Rhode Island voters

Trump DOJ loses again, now 0 for 5 on voter roll cases, as court rejects Rhode Island lawsuit

By Jim Saksa for the Democracy Docket

The Department of Justice (DOJ) lost again as a federal judge dismissed its lawsuit to force Rhode Island to provide unfettered access to its voter registration rolls, bringing the agency’s record among active cases to five defeats, zero wins and 25 cases still pending. 

In Donald Trump’s second term, the DOJ has demanded every state’s unredacted voter registration records — including sensitive private data like social security numbers and dates of birth — as part of the administration’s obsessive focus on immigration enforcement. While 17 Republican-led states have complied, the rest have refused, leading the DOJ to sue 29 states and Washington, D.C. for their voter rolls. 

Rhode Island is now the fifth state to secure a district court victory, joining California, Oregon, Michigan and Massachusetts.*

U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy, a Trump appointee, called the DOJ’s widespread voter roll demands a “fishing expedition.” The DOJ sought to use the 1960 Civil Rights Act (CRA) to order Rhode Island to turn over unredacted versions of its registration records, saying they were needed to ensure compliance with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

Rhode Island's plans to protect your right to vote

All registered R.I. voters to receive this notice in the mail this week

This may preempt attacks from Trump about the integrity of our voter rolls

By Janine L. Weisman, Rhode Island Current

Rhode Island has not sent a voter list maintenance mailing to all active registered voters in over 15 years. That changes as early as Monday, Nov 3, when voters across the state should start receiving a notice in a white envelope with yellow markings and an “Official Election Mail” decal. 

The enclosed letter asks recipients to review the information on their voter record and update any inaccurate or outdated information online at vote.ri.gov or by mail using the form on the back of the letter.

Reviewing and responding to the mailing will help ensure the accuracy of Rhode Island’s voter list and that voters are eligible to vote in the 2026 elections, according to the office of Secretary of State Gregg M. Amore.

If voters receive a letter addressed to someone who does not live at their address, they are asked to write “Not at this address” above the address on the envelope and return the envelope to their mail carrier. 

State and local election officials receive voter list maintenance information from several agencies, including the Division of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Health, and the U.S. Postal Service’s National Change of Address program. 

A voter’s registration becomes inactive when a piece of official elections mail is returned to the sender as “undeliverable.” If an inactive voter does not cast a ballot in one of the next two federal elections, their voter registration can be removed from the voter list, according to federal and state law.

Election officials have removed 107,738 voters from the state’s voter list through these voter list maintenance processes since Amore took office in January 2023.

Voters who need assistance updating their record can call the Department of State Elections Division at (401) 222-2340 or their local Board of Canvassers’ office. For more information on the mailing and a list of frequently asked questions, visit sos.ri.gov/mailing.

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Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com.

R.I. Secretary of State Gregg Amore rejects Trump DOJ probe into R.I. voter data

Despite threats, Amore tells Pam Bondi NO to private voter information

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Amore in Charlestown for the 350th annual
Narragansett powwow. That's him on the left

More than two months after the U.S. Department of Justice asked Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore for information about registered voters, Amore has finally responded:

No.

At least, the Trump administration won’t get anything beyond the state voter lists already publicly available — typically requested by filling out an online form and paying $25 —  though Amore indicated he will hand over the information to the Justice Department for free.

The Justice Department, which has sent similar requests to states nationwide, wanted more: Rhode Island voters’ Social Security and driver’s license numbers, even though this data is protected under state and federal laws.

“The current presidential administration has a long track record of seeking to, and in some cases, succeeding in, interfering in the operation of elections and sowing seeds of distrust between the general voting public and the very election processes that maintain and further our democracy,” Amore said in a statement Tuesday. “I will not participate in an unsubstantiated search for data and information.”

Since taking office in January, Trump has continued to promote false claims about election fraud, directing federal agencies to “scrub” voter rolls he claims are rife with noncitizens, even though documentation of noncitizen voting is extremely rare.

Amore’s refusal to comply with the federal directive comes the same day as the Justice Department sued Maine and Oregon for refusing to turn in personal information about state registered voters and applicants, along with state election administrators.