Patrick Gaynes casts his vote Tuesday morning at Lawn School with his twin sons, Leo and Oliver, 7. PHOTO BY ANDREA VON HOHENLEITEN
Although the primary is over, results are not expected to be final until at least Sept. 20, according to the Rhode Island Board of Elections.
The ballots cast at voting booths Tuesday were encrypted and securely transmitted from the polling places, including Lawn School, to Providence when the polls closed at 8 p.m. These unofficial results were available at elections. ri.gov shortly after the polls closed. Reporting percentages on the website are based on the number of closed polling places. For example, if Barrington is displayed as 50 percent reporting, that indicates three of the six polling places in Barrington have reported.
For early in-person voting, those results were transmitted by local canvassing boards after the polls closed Tuesday. There were 14,906 early inperson voters in Rhode Island from Aug. 24 to Sept. 12, including 386 from Jamestown.
While the state expects to count most mail ballots by Sept. 13, ballots placed in authorized drop boxes at municipal halls, as opposed to ones mailed to the state, still must be tabulated. These ballots are sealed in envelopes and held in secure, sealed containers by the local canvassing boards and will be retrieved by the state. As of Tuesday afternoon, 13,079 mail ballots had been received by the state, including 62 from Jamestown.
Remaining drop-box ballots and any uncounted mail ballots will be added to the totals by Sept. 15. Precincts that failed to transmit their results on election night due to technical issues also will be added to the results by that deadline, the state said.
Military and overseas ballots, which are due by Sept. 16, will be added to results by Sept. 19.
Deficient mail ballots cured by voters are due by Sept. 20.
The streamlined process for mail ballots, and the introduction of early in-person voting, was codified in June when Gov. Dan McKee signed the so-called Let R.I. Vote Act into law. Jamestown’s state senator, Democrat Dawn Euer, sponsored the legislation.
These measures, which expand voting accessibility, temporarily were enacted through executive order in 2020 to limit lines at polling places during the coronavirus pandemic. The relaxed regulations resulted in a record turnout of voters, which led Democratic lawmakers to propose the permanent rules against GOP objections.
