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View Larger + Nellie Gorbea, as Secretary of State, oversees RI's elections. She had no comment on Friday. Robert Rapoza, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Board of Elections, issued a statement on Friday admitting a major error in the voting process.
Nellie Gorbea, as Secretary of State, oversees RI's elections. She had no comment on Friday.
One person who is not answering questions is Rhode Island Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea -- Democratic candidate for Governor of Rhode Island.
GoLocal reached out to Gorbea repeatedly with no response.
“On Wednesday, August 31, the Board of Elections was made aware of errors on Spanish language ballots displayed on newly deployed ExpressVote machines in the communities of Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, and Woonsocket. Candidate names in the Democratic contests of Mayor of Providence, Lt. Governor, and the Republican contests of Representative in Congress District 1 and General Treasurer were displayed incorrectly,” said Rapoza.
The error impacted as many 55 voters. Their votes will not be counted.
It was first reported by WPRI.
Rapoza said, “Once this ballot issue was identified, we immediately notified ExpressVote system provider Election Systems & Software (ES&S) and the RI Secretary of State, whose office is responsible for ballot design, programming and proofing. Within hours the Spanish language ballots displayed on the ExpressVote machines were corrected to reflect the accurate candidate names in the Democratic contests of Mayor of Providence, Lt. Governor, and the Republican contests of Representative in Congress District 1 and General Treasurer.”
The election process failure was widely criticized by opponents of Gorbea.
Helena Foulkes, another candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor and a rival to Gorbea, issued a blistering criticism of Gorbea's handling of the election error.
“This is a very serious issue. As the Chief Elections Officer for the State of Rhode Island, Secretary Nellie Gorbea is responsible for ensuring that elections are fair, fast, and accurate. The buck should stop with her,” said Foulkes.
“It is also deeply troubling that Secretary Gorbea learned about this on Wednesday and the public was not notified until late Friday afternoon. This lack of transparency undermines our election system and disenfranchises voters from having trust in our democratic process,” added Foulkes.
And Matt Brown, another candidate for governor, issued a statement that said, “When I was Secretary of State I advocated for and passed legislation to make the Secretary of State the Chief Elections Officer so the people of Rhode Island would know who has ultimate accountability for the integrity of our elections."
View Larger + RI Board of Elections. PHOTO: File “Nellie Gorbea is shirking that responsibility. Secretary Gorbea should have systems in place to ensure ballots are accurate and our voting system is reliable. Additionally, while Secretary Gorbea tried to dodge responsibility by blaming a third-party vendor, it was her office that selected the vendor and these machines in 2016," added Brown. "It is essential that our elections are accurate and fair. Secretary Gorbea should be taking responsibility, not deflecting i
RI Board of Elections. PHOTO: File
Rapoza said, “The ExpressVote machine is an assistive ballot marking device available at early voting locations and does not tabulate votes. Once a voter has marked the ballot using the ExpressVote, voter selections are printed on a blank ballot card, and it is inserted into the DS-200 machine for tabulation. The printed cards accurately reflected the names of candidates within the affected contests, which voters could confirm prior to inserting the ballot card into the DS-200 machine for tabulation. No DS-200 tabulation machines have been affected by this issue."
“Based on data from ES&S, this issue may impact up to 55 voters who cast their ballots using ExpressVote machines in Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, and Woonsocket, but only if they selected the Spanish-language option on the ExpressVote,” added Rapoza.
“We are working closely with ES&S and the Office of Secretary of State to understand how this error occurred, and to ensure that it never happens again,” added Rapoza.
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