A campaign sign in Newport urges voters to vote no on Ballot Question 1, which asks if Rhode Island should hold a constitutional convention. (Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current)
For the fourth straight decade, Rhode Island voters have rejected a ballot measure asking if the state should hold a constitutional convention.
As of 9:36 p.m., with 96% of the state’s polling places reporting, unofficial preliminary results from the state’s Board of Elections showed Rhode Islanders voted against Question 1 on the statewide ballot 62.8% to 37.2%. There were over 240,000 no votes and just over 142,000 yes votes.
The last time the question was on the ballot in 2014, the vote was 55.1% opposed, while 44.9% supported holding a constitutional convention.
A coalition of 37 labor and civil liberties organizations — called Rhode Island Citizens for Responsible Government — formed over the summer to oppose the convention. Members of the coalition include the ACLU of Rhode Island, which argued that a constitutional convention opened up a path for special interest groups to try to roll back LGBTQ+ rights, abortion rights, and the rights of immigrants.
The ballot question, which is asked in years ending in 4, drew opposition from the Rhode Island Democratic Party and support from the state Republican Party. Republican party leaders saw a convention as a way to establish an Office of Inspector General, a policy initiative they have been unable to achieve through the General Assembly.
But now the spokesperson for Rhode Island Citizens for Responsible Government says the coalition is calling on the General Assembly to amend the Constitution and remove the requirement that puts this question to voters every 10 years.
“This process is a relic of the past, and in light of Rhode Islanders’ steady and continuing opposition every ten years to a Constitutional Convention, we believe it’s time to end this requirement,” said Brad Dufault with Checkmate Consulting Group in a statement issued just before 9:30 p.m.
The every 10 years ballot question requirement was approved by voters after it was proposed at the 1973 constitutional convention. As part of the process, the General Assembly was tasked with creating a bi-partisan preparatory commission to assemble information on constitutional questions for the electors.
Voters last approved the ballot measure in 1984, holding a convention two years later — the most recent constitutional convention of any U.S. state. In 1986, Rhode Island voters in the general election considered 14 ballot questions and approved eight of them. Voters that year approved constitutional amendments that established the state’s Ethics Commission and clarified public access to the shoreline while rejecting a call to establish a constitutional “right to life.”
Registered Democrat Abigail Adams, 65, voted to reject Question 1 on Tuesday morning at Thompson Middle School in Newport, not far from the Colony House on Washington Square where Rhode Island held its first constitutional convention in 1842. Adams, who works at the Edward King House Senior Center, said she only started to research the ballot question the day before the election before making up her mind.
“I don’t trust what might come out of that process,” Adams said.
Dr. Timothy Savage, 39, a pediatrician who voted Tuesday morning at Temple Beth-El on the East Side of Providence, also voted no. He is a Democrat.
“It’s one of those things that it seemed like at face value might be good to revisit some of these fundamental questions, but as I read a little bit more about it, I read what the ACLU had advised on it, which was to vote against it, and learned a little bit about the last constitutional convention,” Savage said. “It sounded like that led to some more restrictive laws or changes being passed.”
Independent voter Kelly Clasey of Johnston voted no on Question 1 at the IUOE Local 57 polling place on Center Avenue. “I am afraid they will make changes to our reproductive rights,” said Clasey, 53, an administrative assistant.
Ryan Voorhees, an independent who voted at Temple Beth-El in Providence, said he voted for the convention because “there are old laws on the books that could use updating” — even if he admitted he didn’t have the strongest support for the ballot measure.
“It gives the voters a chance to change what needs to be changed, or what needs to be changed or what people want to change, I guess,” he said.
Jodie Laurie, a Democrat who voted at the Church of Saint Teresa in Pawtucket, said she voted against Question 1 because she was worried about reproductive rights possibly getting stripped away.
“You’re not going to change my rights as a woman,” Laurie said. “We have a choice, it’s not 1950.”
Fears of deep pocketed special interests
The coalition’s arguments about dark money influencing the state’s founding documents were echoed by Democratic Party leaders in the final weeks heading into the election.
But the coalition was the only big-spender on the convention question heading into Nov. 5. Filings made with the Rhode Island Board of Elections show Rhode Island Citizens for Responsible Government spent over $134,000 toward digital and radio ads, along with mailers and “campaign organization services.”
The only spending in favor of a convention cost a little over $5,000 and was spent by former Rhode Island Republican National Committeeman Steve Frias, who produced a video tying the convention to the ongoing closure of the westbound Washington Bridge in Providence.
A pre-election poll from the University of New Hampshire’s Survey Center showed a mostly split electorate — with 47% of likely voters saying they planned to reject the measure; 34% said they wanted a convention, and 18% were undecided.
Had voters approved the measure, it would have triggered a special election to select 75 convention delegates to represent each district in the House of Representatives — something the state estimated would cost $1.3 million.
The price tag for holding the convention ranged from $2.6 million and $4.6 million.
With additional reporting from Anisha Kumar, Michael Salerno and Janine L. Weisman.
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