On the insurrection’s anniversary, a plea for more voters

League of Women Voters make push for voter registration

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PORTSMOUTH — The selection of Jan. 6 for a day to push voter registration was no accident.

Friday was the one-year anniversary of the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, in which insurrectionists attempted to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. In the afternoon, several members of The League of Women Voters of Newport County set up a small table outside Portsmouth Town Hall and made a simple plea to passers-by: Please register to vote, if you haven’t done so already.

“Yes, this was very intentional,” said Jill Kassis, president of the League of Women Voters of Newport County. “The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan organization. We work for voters’ rights, voter education, and we advocate for certain issues. But we felt that as a result of this past year, this is a real moment for citizens and voters to come together in a non-partisan way to encourage and strengthen our democracy, and there’s no way better than to encourage people to register to vote.”

The League also set up outside Newport City Hall and was planning to hit some other locations Friday  — “We pulled this together sort of last minute,” Kassis acknowledged — as well as a vigil later that day in Washington Square in Newport, to make the Jan. 6 anniversary.

“We are very much promoting people to register to vote, to become active, to talk to each other, even if they don’t agree with each other,” Kassis said. “We partner with the Pell Center at Salve Regina University on a series of conversations and talks … and to promote ways for people to engage in civic discourse in a polite way.”

As for what demographics the League is targeting during its voter registration drive, Kassis replied, “Underserved communities for sure, and we are in partnership with Newport Partners for Families, which is a big consortium of organizations.”

The League recently gave an award to Conexión Latina​ Newport, which works to connect the Hispanic community in that city. “They did a wonderful job on the census,” she said.

The League is also encouraging younger people to vote, and will soon be reaching into the schools. 

“Sixteen-year-olds can register to vote, even though they can’t actually vote. I think it’s a way to build civic education and civic awareness, so it’s a nice tool,” said Kassis, adding the League wants to talk to high school administrators to encourage more civic education in their schools.

“At the state level, we give the Susan B. Wilson Award to social studies teachers who especially embrace civic education, because it’s fallen off the curriculum everywhere — not just Rhode Island. And that’s a problem,” she said.

Kassis said members are also encouraging people to become League members — annual dues are $50 for individuals and $75 for a household (www.lwvri.org). “We’ve been quite successful, actually. We have more people going around and spreading the word,” she said.

Online registration

In cahoots with local canvassing authorities, the League wanted to make it clear that non-registered voters are welcome to step inside their respective town or city hall and put their name to paper. Or, which Registrar of Voters Jacqueline Schultz said has been more common, register online. 

“We’ve seen a lot of online voter registrations,” Schultz said. “People are updating their records. We sent out something called the National Change of Address in November for people to update their records and to make sure they’re properly registered.”

She encouraged everyone to check their voter registration at vote.ri.gov, “just to make sure it’s accurate.”

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