Rhode Island voters are choosing between Democratic incumbent office-holders who are asking for more time and Republican challengers calling for change.
Rhode Island voters are choosing between Democratic incumbents asking for more time and Republican challengers calling for change.
Polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Voters are deciding between Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo and Republican Allan Fung. Independent Joe Trillo could act as a spoiler.
The state Board of Elections said that as of 6 p.m., more than 311,000 residents statewide had voted out of nearly 790,000 registered voters. The only major problem reported by the board was a malfunctioning voting machine on Prudence Island. A new machine was ferried over, and the board said the polling place was operating normally and all ballots have been counted.
Raimondo and Fung were their parties’ nominees in 2014. Raimondo won with 41 percent of the vote over Fung’s 36 percent, in a three-way race.
Yaseen Nagib, 18, a senior at Providence’s Classical High School, voted for the first time Tuesday just days after his birthday.
“Younger people need to vote. So I want to do my part,” he said. “We have different opinions on issues than older people, and we need to be heard on these issues.”
Nagib said education, both locally and nationally, was the most important issue to him.
He called Republican President Donald Trump a “racist, and a liar,” and voted Democrat across the board, including for incumbent Gov. Gina Raimondo over Republican Allan Fung, who supports Trump.
Julie Shore, 32, a yoga teacher, said when she was younger, she would only vote in presidential elections.
“Seeing how the world has been going in the last few years since Trump came into office, I feel like I have to do every little thing that I can to participate in democracy, and not just reap the privileges,” she said.
Raimondo, the state’s first female governor, is seeking a second term. Fung is the mayor of Cranston. If elected, he would become the state’s first Asian-American governor. Trillo is a former state lawmaker who left the Republican Party to run for governor as an independent.
Also at the top of the ballot, Democratic U. S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse faces Republican challenger Bob Flanders, a former state Supreme Court justice.
Rhode Island’s two representatives in the U. S. House, Democratic Reps. James Langevin and David Cicilline, also face Republican challengers. Voters will choose between Langevin, who’s seeking a 10th term, and Republican Salvatore Caiozzo, a retired businessman, and between Cicilline, who’s seeking a fifth term, and Republican Patrick Donovan, a stay-at-home father.
The hypercharged national political environment is expected to drive record turnout in some places. Forty-four percent of Rhode Island’s registered voters cast ballots in 2014. Sixty percent voted in the 2016 presidential election.
Rhode Island has nearly 790,000 registered voters, of which about 45 percent are unaffiliated, 42 percent are Democrat and 13 percent are Republican.
Question 1 on the ballot asks voters’ permission to spend $250 million over five years to help municipalities build new schools and renovate existing facilities as part of a 10-year plan.
In local races, one of Rhode Island’s most powerful politicians, Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, is up for re-election in his Cranston district against a Republican rival that came close to beating him in 2016, Steven Frias. Democratic Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza faces independent Dee Witman.
