Brown Votes testifies for same-day voter registration amendment in Rhode Island

seek to approve it by mid-June, the Globe reported.

The proposed budget “would rebalance the city’s tax rates, refocus the use of federal dollars and prepare us for a possible recession,” smiley said in a Tuesday press release.

smiley also discussed the city’s ongoing negotiations surrounding its agreements for payments in lieu of taxes, which allow institutions like Brown to make voluntary payments to the city instead of taxes — on top of funding that providence receives from the state in place of a portion of lost tax revenue.

smiley said in the press release that his administration wants to place a commercial property tax on cases where “large institutions buy buildings and lease them to for-profit entities while being granted tax exemptions.” He also discussed a proposed payroll tax, which he said will provide funding to the city “whenever these institutions grow.”

Providence “needs these funds, in order to keep paying our bills on time and to provide the high-quality services we all deserve,” smiley said in

Amendment to state constitution would end 30-day wait period for statewide elections

BY JENNIFER SHIM SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Last month, three members of Brown Votes — a nonpartisan University student initiative focused on increasing voter participation on campus — testified at the Rhode Island state House in support of House Joint Resolution 5770. The bill, if passed, would put forth a ballot question to amend the state constitution to allow same-day voter registration for statewide elections, according to John Bellaire ’25, a civic engagement fellow for Brown Votes who testified at the hearing.

Currently, in Rhode Island, same-day voter registration is only offered for federal elections, whereas statewide elections require voters to register at least 30 days in advance, said Logan Tullai ’25, the chair of Brown Votes’ Advocacy Committee. If the ballot question passed, it would allow voters to “register up to and including Election Day,” said Julian Cronin ’25, another member of the Advocacy Committee who also testified in favor of the bill.

The Advocacy Committee specifically seeks to “expand access to voting and overcome barriers … to participation,” Tullai said. “That takes the form of meeting with stakeholders and the state House, and then working with on-campus partners … to expand access to civic engagement.”

Cronin told The Herald that on the day of the testimony, each member got around three minutes to make their arguments.

“We argued that all citizens of Rhode Island — whether they just moved here, whether they just registered, whether they just became citizens — all should