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At a time when efforts to impose barriers on the right to vote are percolating across the country, the ACLU of Rhode Island today filed a 鈥渇riend of the court鈥� brief in support of a lawsuit challenging a policy of the Bonnet Shores Fire District (BSFD) in Narragansett that bars residents from voting if they own less than $400 of property in the district, while allowing thousands of non-resident beach cabana owners 鈥� including those owning sixteen square feet 鈥渂athroom units鈥� 鈥� to exercise the right.

The ACLU鈥檚 brief, filed by cooperating attorneys James Rhodes and Lynette Labinger, notes that the Fire District 鈥渆xercises broad government powers鈥� that include the adoption of 鈥渙rdinances whose violation may be punished with fines and terms of imprisonment.鈥� The brief argues that in 鈥渞estricting the right to vote to certain 鈥榩roperty owners,鈥� the BSFD follows in a long, justifiably discredited, history in this country and state in restricting the right to vote to a favored class.鈥� Among those excluded from voting are individuals who rent property within the district or are spouses or adult children of title holders.

In providing a short historical overview of the right to vote in the state, the ACLU brief notes that 鈥淩hode Island shares the country鈥檚 unenviable history of limiting the franchise on the basis of race, gender, and wealth.鈥� The brief labels BSFD鈥檚 restriction on the right to vote to property owners 鈥渁 throwback to earlier, long-discredited notions of who is entitled to participate in our state and local government.鈥�

The brief argues: 鈥淲ho gets to participate in an election is one of the most critical threshold questions to ask. The Supreme Court described the right to vote as the one right that is preservative of all others. Sadly, the converse also holds. The restriction on the right to vote is preservative of all other inequalities.鈥�

The brief concludes by asserting: 鈥淭he charter of the Bonnet Shores Fire District appears caught in a time loop that has ignored the evolution of voting rights in the United States and Rhode Island since it was first enacted in 1932. This relic of a period of widespread disenfranchisement is unconstitutional and cannot endure.鈥�

ACLU of RI cooperating attorney Rhodes said today: 鈥淓xpanding the right to vote to all people has been a critical multi-generational fight here and across the country. Until every one of our local governments are elected by the people they serve, our work is not done. Participation in free and fair elections, whether it be for president, state legislature or local fire district, is the cornerstone of our democracy.鈥�