Carroll Andrew Morse
Anchor Rising
7/10/2012
According to the State Board of Elections, Rhode Island is facing “an imminent peril” to its “public health, safety, or welfare”. The imminent peril has forced the Board to call an emergency meeting to “[make] confidential the optional information on voter registrations of voters email addresses, telephone numbers and if interested as working as poll workers, since that information is not required under state law and is meant for the use by the local boards of canvassers”.
Without having declared imminent peril to Rhode Island, the Board would have to “provide 30 days notice of its intended action”, “afford all interested persons reasonable opportunity to submit data, views, or arguments”, and demonstrate need, before adopting any new administrative rule.
However, by declaring an “an imminent peril to the public health, safety, or welfare” of Rhode Islanders, the Board of Elections will try to immediately put into place its new rule making confidential the optional information on voter registrations, “for a period of not longer than one hundred twenty (120) days”.
By the way, the next general election in the state of Rhode Island is one hundred eighteen (118) days away from the date of tomorrow’s meeting.
Apparently, in the minds of the Rhode Island Board of Elections, the prospect of challengers to incumbent office holders making use of public information resources that have been regularly available in prior election cycles (the incumbents will still have their info from the last time around) has suddenly come to constitute “an imminent peril” in this year.
CAJ note: If anyone from RI can tell us exactly what emergency the population is facing that requires this kind of extreme measure, please contact the WordBoss…and provide links to your sources, please.
