RI Curfews Come Under Criticism for Potential of Voting Interference and Discrimination
Tuesday, June 02, 2020
Late on Tuesday and in rapid fire, Providence, Warwick and Cranston announced curfews with a number of variations -- and the RI ACLU and Common Cause came out with a number of concerns.
The ACLU said the curfews are "extraordinary, unnecessary, and, ironically, likely to lead to discriminatory enforcement by police."
"The imposition of blanket curfews within three cities in our state is an extraordinary and overly broad action that, ironically, can only promote the types of discriminatory police actions that have prompted peaceful protests this past week,” Steven Brown, Executive Director of the ACLU of Rhode Island.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"Each of these curfew orders contain a hodgepodge of exemptions. For example, Cranston allows an exception for people going to and from work, while Providence’s exemption is for 'essential' workers only. Warwick’s order creates an exemption for voters, while Cranston – the home of the Board of Elections – does not. In Cranston and Warwick, homeless individuals will automatically be violators of the orders," added Brown.
"In order to enforce these orders, police will be exercising enormous discretion in deciding which cars to pull over, and which individuals to stop, for possibly being out in violation of the curfew. History, decades of data, and present-day headlines teach us that such discretion will likely be enforced in a discriminatory manner," warned Brown.
Restricting Voting
Common Cause’s John Marion said, “Mayor Allan Fung of the City of Cranston has issued an executive order imposing a curfew from 8 p.m. on June 2nd, until 5 a.m. on June 3rd. This executive order as written will interfere with a voter’s right to cast a ballot in the ongoing Presidential Preference Primary. Cranston’s three polling places are open until 8 p.m. tonight and voters have a right under Rhode Island state law to cast a ballot if they are in line to do so at the time a polling place is scheduled to close. Nothing in Mayor Fung’s order exempts voters from the curfew.”
“Furthermore, the Rhode Island Board of Elections is accepting voted mail ballots from voters throughout the state at their Cranston headquarters until 8 p.m. and is processing tens of thousands of ballots as part of a publicly observable process throughout the night. Common Cause Rhode Island calls on Mayor Fung to immediately amend his executive order to expressly exempt any voter returning from a polling place, or any Rhode Islander seeking to observe the processing of ballots at the Board of Elections from the curfew. Our organizations also call on state and municipal leaders throughout Rhode Island to carefully craft any executive action to limit its impact on the ongoing election,” added Marion.
The orders issued by the Mayors of the states three largest cities after a group of approximately 500 vandalized and looted more than 100 businesses in Providence early Tuesday morning.
"Officials today described how police intelligence prepared them to be present at last night’s acts of vandalism in Providence. There thus would appear to be much less restrictive approaches than blanket city-wide bans like these. If, however, law enforcement really has little idea what the plans of those with malicious intent are, then it is hard to see how blunderbuss approaches like these will work, other than to seriously harm the rights of law-abiding residents who have just finished spending two months sheltering in place,” said Brown.
"The ACLU of Rhode Island joins in Common Cause Rhode Island’s particular concern about the impact that Cranston’s curfew will have on late-evening voters in the city and on those traveling to the Board of Elections in Cranston to either deliver ballots or monitor the elections process. The image of a vehicle delivering election ballots being stopped and detained late at night by any police department is not a comforting one to contemplate,” said Brown.
"The ACLU urges reconsideration of these curfews. At the very least, they should be revised to contain a later starting time tonight and also not be allowed to extend beyond this one night.” said Brown.
Related Articles
- VIDEO: Raimondo Activates RI National Guard, Looking at Curfew After Violent Riots in Providence
- BREAKING: Elorza Orders 9 PM Curfew In Providence on Tuesday Night, Warwick for 8 PM
- NEW: 8 PM Curfew Ordered by Cranston Mayor Fung, Citing “Potential Threats”
- NEW: Community Groups Oppose Councilman’s Curfew Suggestion
