Predicted mail ballot flood will make it 'almost impossible' for R.I. to know winners on Election

Predicted mail ballot flood will make it ‘almost impossible’ for R.I. to know winners on Election Night


PROVIDENCE – Every politician and campaign operative has their own Election Day ritual, but at some point, most of them end up asking the same question in calls or text messages to anyone – reporters, friends, each other – who might have some intel to share: “What are ya hearing?”

The answers rarely have any value, and most aren’t even true. A voting machine is broken in South Kingstown. The lines are long in Providence. Everyone, everywhere, is somehow cheating. They all know that elections aren’t actually won on Election Day, but the gossip serves as a twisted form of therapy.

This year, the normal anxiety that ripples through Rhode Island’s political class will be enhanced and extended because it’s likely that winners won’t be declared for several days after polls close at 8 p.m. for both the Sept. 8 primary and Nov. 3 general election.

With fears over the coronavirus expected to lead to tens of thousands of additional mail ballots this election cycle, officials say they see no way that all votes will be counted to definitively call winners, especially in local races that could see more than half of all votes arrive via the mail.

Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/31/metro/predicted-mail-ballot-flood-will-make-it-almost-impossible-ri-know-winners-election-night/