RI House passes bill to implement automatic disaffiliation for unaffiliated voters

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Legislation sponsored by state Rep. Patricia Serpa that would allow Rhode Island’s unaffiliated voters to stay that way after voting in primaries cleared the R.I. House unanimously on Tuesday.

Currently, anyone not affiliated with a political party automatically becomes affiliated with a party if they vote in its primary. In order to disaffiliate, they have to fill out a form or update their information online.

Serpa’s bill aims to remove that process for unaffiliated voters. Those options would still be available for affiliated voters who want to update their party affiliation.

“Most voters in Rhode Island are unaffiliated with any political party, but often choose to vote in party primaries, whether it be Democrat or Republican,” Serpa said in a press release. “And as voter history suggests, most of those voters would prefer to remain unaffiliated after the primary is over. This bill would allow those unaffiliated voters to remain unaffiliated without having to fill out a form after the election. That not only makes it easier for the voters, but for election officials who spend hundreds of hours after every election cycle processing thousands of these forms.”





https://www.wpri.com/news/politics/ri-house-passes-bill-to-implement-automatic-disaffiliation-for-unaffiliated-voters/