Mail-in voting up from 2014 midterms
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – Tomorrow is Election Day but some of the voting has already started. Deadlines for mail-in and emergency voting have come and gone but that type of voting is becoming more and more popular.
The number of people who’ve already voted and are skipping the polls tomorrow is up from the midterms in 2014. There are some big differences this year though all in an effort to make sure every vote is counted.
It’s November 5th, the day before the election but the race has already started, staff at the Board of Elections in Providence were very busy verifying mail–in ballots.
“Just about all across the country the use of mail ballots and early voting has exploded,” says Stephen Erickson with the Board of Elections.
There’s no early voting in Rhode Island but you can request a mail–in or emergency ballot in the weeks before Election Day. Once they’re in, signatures are checked with their voter registration forms before they go on to be counted. This afternoon the board reviewed 2 dozen that were flagged.
“If a ballot is rejected because of a technical deficiency, the voter has an opportunity to be notified and then correct those problems,” says Erickson.
That wasn’t always the case. Believe it or not, this is the first time in Rhode Island voters will know if their vote counted or not.
Voting before Election Day is definitely growing in popularity. This year 10,000 more emergency ballots were requested than 2014. There are also roughly 30,000 more registered voters but will that translate into more people voting?
“The responses in other states indicate that turnout is going to exceed the 2014 turnout. In some cases it may come close to equaling the presidential election I don’t think we’re going to be in that direction but I think we are going to see a significant uptick from 2014,” says Erickson.
Some good news for those hitting the polls, they think lines could be shorter tomorrow because of the number of early voters.
© WLNE/ABC 6 2018
