by Christopher Shea, Rhode Island Current
September 10, 2024
With very few contested races on the ballot, Rhode Island’s state and local primary races didn’t drive voters to the polls in droves.
Just before polls closed at 8 p.m. there were 77,376 votes cast, representing just over 9.9% of the more than 781,000 total registered voters.
Results are preliminary and unofficial, with final counts including remaining mail ballots and those from overseas and military voters expected by Sept. 18, according to the Rhode Island Board of Elections.
By comparison, turnout was 14.5% during the 2020 primary and 16.9% in 2022 — though the latter also saw a close gubernatorial race and contested primaries for Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District.
Tuesday’s low turnout was expected, said Providence College Associate Professor of Political Science Adam Myers.
“In this state we’re so used to not having competitive races that folks just kind of dive into the habit of not voting in primaries,” he told Rhode Island Current. “There’s very little going on — I don’t blame people for not turning out today.”
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, a Warwick Democrat, offered a more optimistic take on the quiet polling places in his district.
“I think a lot of people voted early or voted by mail,” Shekarchi said in an interview Tuesday afternoon.
Shekarchi is among the 57 sitting legislators (out of 113 seats) without a primary or general election challenge this year. Only 18 legislative races featured primary contests, all Democratic.
Overshadowing the primary races for many voters — and candidates — was the presidential debate.
Pam Leary, one of three Democrats vying for the open seat in Senate District 25 in Johnston, said in an interview Monday that she planned to host family and friends to her home, not to watch election results, but to catch the debate.
Watch parties offer election results and debate viewing
About 60 people attended a presidential debate watch party at Black Sheep in downtown Providence cohosted by Sen. Tiara Mack, a Providence Democrat, along with the RI Working Families Party, Young Democrats of Rhode Island and Black Lives Matter RI PAC.
“It’s a little disappointing to see that we didn’t have robust voter turnout, but also we see that reflected in the enthusiasm over the upcoming presidential race, which has taken a lot of air in the room,” Mack said as a golden disco ball sent spangles of light dancing over the sports bar’s hardwood floor.
Mack who was unopposed in Tuesday’s Democratic primary and has no challenger in November, said she talked to a lot of people during the day who were unaware there was even an election.
“I’ve been posting on my social media for the last couple of weeks, letting people know about early voting, about mail ballots and about elections day-to-day, but we didn’t really see that reflected in the numbers,” she said. “Lots of people have different priorities, but our democracy is too important to let people not know that they have a right to vote. A lot of races are also uncontested. As someone who runs every two years, it’s nice to have an uncontested race, but that leaves a lot of people without real choice on their ballots.” House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, left, points out reporters to Gov. Dan McKee — who made a brief stop at Shekarchi’s primary night gathering at Lemongrass restaurant in Warwick on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
Another political watch party was organized by Shekarchi at Lemongrass restaurant in Warwick where Shekarchi provided reporters with election results while holding a stick of beef teriyaki.
“To me, it means people are satisfied with the status quo,” he said in an interview at his watch party.
Before enjoying the festivities, Shekarchi first had to fit in an appearance at the Warwick Zoning Board of Review on behalf of one his law practice clients.
Myers, meanwhile, said the debate should have had the opposite effect.
“One would hope that would spur people to vote,” he said.
Incumbent Democratic U.S. Reps. Gabe Amo and Seth Magaziner ran unopposed in their respective primaries, as did their Republican challengers — Allen Waters and Steven Corvi.
There was slightly more action in the races for the U.S. Senate, with state Rep. Patricia Morgan of West Warwick besting former Warwick City Administrator Raymond McKay in the Republican primary. U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse easily fended off a challenge from Michael Costa, a former Republican who briefly ran for governor in 2022, in the Democratic race.
“But that was kind of in the bag for Whitehouse,” Myers said. “There was nothing really on that ballot that was going to drive people to the polls.”
The exception: Cranston, which had a very heated Republican mayoral primary, in addition to a pair of a trio of contested state legislative primary races. Unaffiliated voters were forced to choose between casting ballots in the Republican mayoral primary or participating in one or more Democratic legislative matchups, such as House District 14, or 16, and Senate District 28.
Rhode Island’s second largest city led the state in turnout with 10,455 ballots cast by the time polls closed, representing 18.7% of the city’s 56,000 active, registered voters.
Mail ballots rule in Providence
Providence led the mail ballot front, with 2,201 ballots received by Tuesday night, according to data from the Secretary of State’s office.
The prevalence of mail ballots in the capital city was the key strategy for Democratic Rep. Enrique Sanchez in his reelection bid for House District 9 against challengers Anastacia Williams and Santos Javier.
“We were able to flip a lot of voters,” Sanchez told Rhode Island Current while campaigning on Cranston Street in Providence at 10:30 a.m. “I’d go to people’s houses before their ballots were sent out and told people about me and they told me they’d change their votes.”
But the strategy wasn’t without controversy, as complaints by all three candidates accused opponents of alleged mail ballot tampering. Complaints lodged with state and local agencies, including Providence Police and the Rhode Island Board of Elections, remained under investigation as of Tuesday.
More than 11,000 mail ballots statewide were submitted to the Board of Elections — which had processed roughly 90% of those votes as of 3 p.m., said Robert Quinn, who oversees mail ballots and voter registration.
Low turnout didn’t make tabulation easier, though, said Quinn.
“We still have to go through the same steps all the way through,” he said. “It’s still the same carousel here — still the same long two to three weeks.”
The general election will be held on Nov. 5.
Senior Reporter Nancy Lavin and Anisha Kumar contributed to this story.
Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com. Follow Rhode Island Current on Facebook and X.
