Roger Williams

American democracy depends on active participation and engagement of the people. However, far too often in our history, voters have been disenfranchised. Protections for the right to vote have waxed and waned over time, but in this moment we are approaching a voting rights crisis.

Federal law that protects voting rights is getting weaker. States need to step into the breach and codify voting protections now. Rhode Island must be the next state to enact a state voting rights act.

The 15th Amendment to the Constitution passed during Reconstruction, clearly states, “The rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” After its passage, roughly 2,000 Black men, including Representative Robert B. Elliott, Representative Robert Smalls, and Senator Hiram R. Revels, assumed public offices in all levels of government.

Get Rhode Map

A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State.

Enter Email

However, according to the book “Race and the Foundations of American Law,“ ”Reconstruction’s sunset saw the dawn of the Jim Crow era, returning the nation to disenfranchisement.” The anti-discrimination promises in the 15th Amendment faltered after Reconstruction and Black Americans, and other minoritized groups, were disenfranchised from voting through the use of poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence. And until the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was passed women had no constitutional right to vote, either.

American history’s path toward equality has been less a straight line and more a series of peaks and valleys. The next peak, after women’s suffrage, was the civil rights era. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was one of the most successful pieces of civil rights legislation in our country’s history. It almost single-handedly worked to dismantle voting suppression in the Jim Crow South. The United States created strong voting protections. These protections are being eroded.

As voting rights were increasingly protected by the 1965 act, the next set of voting restrictions, so-called second generation barriers, were being developed in response. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg described in the Shelby dissent, “Second-generation barriers come in various forms. One of the blockages is racial gerrymandering.” Other second generation tools which have been used to disenfranchise voters are curtailment of necessary accommodations for voters with disabilities, strict voter ID laws, the refusal to print voting instructions and ballots in multiple languages, and restrictions on mail ballots. And so the cycle of enfranchisement and disenfranchisement continues.

We are currently approaching a sizable valley. In the seismic 2013 case of Shelby v. Holder, the United States Supreme Court gutted critical protections of the Voting Rights Act. In 2026, we face increasing weakening of federal protections for this important right.

At the same time as Congress is considering the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act is now in danger of being further disintegrated by the Supreme Court. Both developments have me concerned, both as a teacher of law and a voter. And they should have you concerned, too.

While those of us in the smallest state cannot prevent or undo the harms happening in Congress or the Supreme Court, we are able to send a message to the voters here at home. That message is that voting access matters to democracy. Voting access and democracy matter to Rhode Island. Your vote matters and we are willing to legislate to protect your vote.

With hope and gratitude, I am anxiously looking to Rhode Island legislators, the Secretary of State, and advocates to protect the rights of women voters, transgender voters, voters with disabilities, voter who are not white, voters who speak and read Spanish, elderly voters, and all other voters.

Those leaders have responded with the proposed Rhode Island Voting Rights Act.

If enacted, the Rhode Island Voting Rights Act will prohibit voting discrimination based on religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, age, country of ancestral origin, and change in marital status.

It will prohibit voter suppression.

It will require that language assistance is available in qualified communities for voters with limited English proficiency.

While the federal government may be working to further suppress and discriminate, Rhode Island legislators and advocates are working to protect our right to vote.

We may be fast approaching a valley, but Rhode Island will stand with other states who have enacted state voting rights laws as a clear peak. Other states who have heeded the call and enacted state voting rights acts include Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, New York, Virginia, Oregon, Washington, and California. This legislation is a moral statement that voting access is the Rhode Island way.

We can no longer expect that what is enacted nationally is enough to protect our votes. We must send the message to all voters, and the next generation of voters, that voting discrimination, disenfranchisement, and suppression is not welcome here.

Nicole P. Dyszlewski is a professor and assistant dean at Roger Williams University School of Law. She serves on the state governing board of Common Cause Rhode Island and is the co-host of the Law 401 podcast.