By Kim Kalunian, WPRO News
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hear testimony this week on a bill that would eliminate straight party voting, otherwise known as the “master lever.”
The House heard their version of the bill last month, and held it for further study. On Tuesday, the Senate will take their turn hearing testimony on the bill.
Ken Block, chairman of the Moderate Party of Rhode Island and leader of the anti-master lever movement, said he expects around 100 people to testify tomorrow afternoon.
Block, who started a website to spread awareness about the master lever, is aiming to get the support of lawmakers to ban the straight party option.
“I think people are really confused as to what the master lever is about,” he told Gene Valicenti on the WPRO Morning News Monday.
Block said in 2012 more than 8,500 Rhode Islanders used Moderate Party master lever on ballots that didn’t even have Moderate candidates.
“People use master lever to indicate what their political philosophy is,” he said, adding that it “unbalances elections.”
Block said people also use the master lever in non-partisan races, something called “undervoting.”
“In no way should we ever have a ballot mechanism that disenfranchises anyone, whether it’s a candidate or whether it’s a voter,” he said.
The hearing on the bill will be held at approximately 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in hearing room 310.
