Why it’s time for Rhode Island to have a constitutional convention | Opinion

Stephen P. Erickson has served as House minority whip, District Court judge, vice chair of the Board of Elections, adviser to two governors, and chair of the State Housing Appeals Board, serving in all three branches of state government. He currently teaches law and psychiatry in a joint program sponsored by the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University and Roger Williams Law School.

It’s not a bad idea to revisit our Rhode Island Constitution every couple of decades. Times change; we need to be able to adapt. Constitutional conventions can weed out outmoded rules, allowing us to govern ourselves as we, the current citizens of the state, wish.

We all have our pet projects. As an advocate for better treatment of people with mental illness, I think it is well past time to eliminate the requirement that anyone ever adjudicated non compos mentis is disqualified from voting. That’s what our constitution says. The voting rights of people with disabilities should be better protected and not curtailed by false claims of election irregularities. We should recognize the more mobile nature of society by allowing same-day voter registration.

Do we want more competitive races? Start by eliminating the absurd limit on declarations of candidacy to three days and the limit to collect signature during a 10-day period with a holiday. Both rules subvert democracy, protect incumbents and discourage entry into the political system. Let filing start Jan. 1, and start the signature gathering immediately.  

With the collapse of the two-party system in Rhode Island (ask me about it, I used to recruit candidates), we need to move to ranked-choice voting, both in primaries and general elections. We do not have that flexibility. I prefer ranked-choice over jungle primaries, which are likely to result in ideological twins competing in the general election.

There is more to do. The shoreline-access language needs to be cleaned up to ensure the recent protections enacted by the General Assembly are upheld. We need to consider what rights we as citizens should have – including a right to a quality public education, a right to health care, and a right to treatment. For too long we have made excuses rather than changes when it comes to the health of the mentally ill, the disabled, the elderly and the terminally ill. Medical decisions must be constitutionally protected.

We need to revisit separation of powers, given the successful efforts to undermine judicial selection by the proliferation of magistrates. No one should have a case decided without their consent except by a judge appointed through the judicial selection process. And only lawyers should be prosecutors.

We need an independent redistricting commission with no members of the General Assembly. It should no longer be possible for incumbents to pick their district lines. I have seen it happen.

Common Cause supported my effort to enact initiative laws in the 1980s, although they do not today because of concerns after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. I think it is still a useful tool, as abortion ballot initiatives in other states have shown.  It is a risk, but a risk worth taking since the demise of the two-party system here.

I am certain no one agrees with me on all of these, but I am certain almost everyone would agree with at least one of these proposals. Let’s rewrite Rhode Island’s Constitution to ensure it is a living document that represents our needs, not those of our ancestors.