Election Reform
Apparently the state of Rhode Island doesn’t. The state is owed $1,245,200 as of August, and possibly more by now. According to a monthly report from the RI Board of Elections, more than 250 politicians, candidates and Political Action Committees (PAC), both past and present, owe amounts ranging from as little as $25 to as…
Well this must really be absolute crazytown. When I’m on the same side of an issue as Bob Plain and opposite from WPRO’s Matt Allen, it really makes me wonder if I’ve been replaced by aliens or something. Tonight on his radio show, Matt was debuting the new and more crotchety Matt Allen. A changed…
“35% of the presidential ballots probably will be cast before election day“: Early voting is often promoted as a convenience for harried citizens. But it may be a bigger boon for candidates, enabling them to deploy money and personnel more efficiently as they work to corral votes as soon as possible. “By encouraging our supporters…
Mutliple sources are reporting that William San Bento has ended the day with a one vote lead over Carlos Tobon in the District 58 (Pawtucket) Democratic primary for State Representative. Apparently four different recounts have produced four different results, with further recounts possible. According to the Associated Press……the final tally came down to a single…
By all accounts, Voter ID went pretty well yesterday in Rhode Island. But all right-thinking people know it’s election reform* is not needed. Heck, look at Maryland (h/t)…. Wendy Rosen, the Democratic challenger to Republican Rep. Andy Harris in the 1st Congressional District, withdrew from the race Monday amid allegations that she voted in elections…
Last week, Anchor Rising spoke to two people at the RI Board of Elections with regard to the requirement that mail-in ballots be completed with a pencil, not a pen. Gregg McBurney, Program and Planning Specialist for the RI BOE, advised that mail-in ballots must be completed with a number two pencil because the BOE…
Monique mentioned earlier today that former Rhode Island General Patrick Lynch had tweeted that…Rhode Island legal trivia: There is a one year Statute of Limitation for most voter fraud and election offenses. webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLETechnically, his statement is correct. However, a chapter of the law (ch. 17-20) separate from the one that former AG Lynch referred to…
The video obtained by the Projo of Erasmo Ramirez offering to sell mail-in ballots filled out for Anthony Gemma may not be direct evidence of voter fraud, given what voter fraud is commonly understood to mean. Consider the following: On the surveillance video, Robert Cappuccilli (the potential vote buyer) reads names and addresses off of…
The straight-ticket, straight-party or master lever (just a line in Rhode Island) is an anachronism from long ago and its time has more than come to be eliminated. Each year, a bill is submitted to the Assembly to eliminate it, but you can probably guess what happens to the bill. Yep, held for further study.…
Hm. I’m not sure what I think about this idea of a an instant runoff election, yet. In an instant-runoff election voters will rank candidates by preference. If in the election no candidate wins a majority the last place candidate is eliminated and the second choice pick of voters who selected that candidate counts. The…