Image taken from an anti-convention ad by Citizens for a Responsible Government
By Sam Wroblewski 630wpro.com
Out of the seven referenda questions on the 2014 ballot, only question three did not make the cut Tuesday night.
The measure proposing a constitutional convention managed to get 44% of the vote, however 157,006 Rhode Islanders voted ‘no’ on the question.
“It didn’t get the type of attention it should have because of the bigger races,” said University of Rhode Island Professor Ed Mazze.
A convention would have allowed Rhode Islanders to select delegates to change parts of the state’s constitution. Supporters said this would give the people the opportunity to take action on issues such as granting the governor more power with line item veto and enacting term limits to General Assembly members.
Critics of a convention, such as the Citizens for a Responsible Government, said opening up the constitution would attract outside special interests who would work to reverse progress made on workers, minorities’, and women’s rights.
The last constitutional convention was held in 1986.
Mazze theorizes one reason why voters may have been turned off to the measure is because Rhode Islanders are cynical about state government.
“People don’t have faith because of past experiences,” said Mazze, “When you talk to business people and other professions they’ve basically given up when it comes to state government.”
Mazze continued to say both sides did a disservice to the issue. On the one hand supporters treated the idea of a convention too academically, making it seem like a political experiment; while the other side “[stayed] with the status quo.”
The state’s constitution allows for a vote on a convention every ten years.
