Rhode Island Election 2020 – When the Numbers Don’t Add Up the Smallest State has Big Election Problems

 Allan Giberti
updated 11/22/20 2:28pm
 
Was the 2020 election a free, fair and accurate election? I don’t think so and I’m not alone. Not by a long shot.

While the media focuses on the presidential race and voting irregularities in swing states, other less “influential” states are being left to fend for themselves. Of course, those races are important given what’s at stake but little states have big problems too.

​The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations has a problem. A big one. Too many Rhode Islanders do not trust what our election process has become and we have good reason.

According to the US Census Bureau, there were 532,000 Rhode Islanders registered to vote in the November 2018 election. Unfortunately, according to R.I. Secretary of State, Nellie M. Gorbea, there were a lot less than that who were registered to vote. Rhode Island went into the 2020 election with approximately 255,000 people on our voter rolls who should not be there.

On March 23, 2020, R.I. Governor Gina Raimondo issued Executive Order 20-11 laying the groundwork for a mail in election,

“3. The Board (Rhode Island Board of Elections), working in conjunction with the Secretary of State, shall determine a plan to hold a predominantly mail ballot Primary. The Rhode Island Department of Health shall advise the Board on any public health concerns that may arise with respect to voting practices involving person-to-person contact.”
Then on April 17, 2020 she issued Executive Order 20-27 removing the ballot signature certification safeguard,
          
​“2. The two witness and/or notary requirements for certifying regular and emergency ballots set forth under R. I. Gen. Laws§§ 17-20-2.1 and 17-20-2.2 are hereby suspended. The Board shall take all measures necessary to compare and authenticate the signatures set forth on the application and certification envelopes and may request mail ballot applicants to voluntarily provide the last four digits of the voter's Social Security number or a valid driver's license number.”

Now during Rhode Island’s 2020 presidential primaries, the state sent out 779,463 unsolicited mail ballot applications. 100,000 unsolicited mail ballot applications were returned as undeliverable and their intended recipients were flagged as “inactive” but wait, it gets better. We also have no idea how many thousands of applications were either thrown away or completed by someone other than the intended registered voter.

That’s just some of the more known issues plaguing Rhode Island’s elections, so the next obvious logical conclusion would be to proceed full steam ahead. And please by all means, let’s plunge head first into one of the most important elections of this country’s history with a predominantly mail in election by sending out hundreds of thousands of unsolicited mail-in ballot applications while having 255,000 ineligible names on our voter rolls and requiring no signature certification. What could possibly go wrong?

Apparently, everything went wrong and as I said before, Rhode Island isn’t alone. Like so many other states, many of us went to bed on November 3rd and woke up the next morning not quite sure of what happened overnight. Elections that were won by candidates who were not from the Democrat party woke to find out that they had somehow lost. Overnight races had flipped to Democrat candidates including the presidential race.

One of the things you have to keep in mind when you’re talking about Rhode Island is that we have a population of approximately 1 million people and the state has hovered around that number for quite some time. So long in fact, we will most likely lose one of our two Congressmen and that brings us back the Census.

According to the US Census Bureau, for the 2020 election there were 789,060 eligible voters in The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. That number doesn’t jive with the Department of State website’s claim of 809,821 registered Rhode Island voters.

Sounds absurd right? Given how unprepared we were going into the 2020 election with so much already wrong, how anyone, regardless of whatever political party you affiliate with, does not have an issue with any of this is beyond me.

Honestly, it infuriated me. Not only did I have to know more, I had to try and figure out where the problem was and I think I narrowed it down. Take a look and see if you can spot it.

The following is data taken from the US Census Bureau on the number of eligible voters in the state of Rhode Island and then broken down by it’s counties, cities and towns and compared against the number of registered voters in those same categories.

• -         The “ACS 5 YR CVAP” column represents the number of people who are eligible to vote in Rhode Island and is provided by the US Census Bureau.
• -         The “Total Voters” column represents the total number of actual registered voters (Active, Inactive and Pending) in a given county, city or town and is provided by the Rhode Island Department of State.
• -         The “% Total Reg” column is the percentage of voters who are registered to vote in that given geographic location.​

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic we’ve been told by our elected officials that our actions are driven by the data and we must continue to follow that data. We must follow the “science”.
Well, I did and to say that I’m concerned is an understatement. I encourage you all to “follow the science” as well because these results should make every single one of us stand up and demand clarification as to why the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations has more than 100% voter participation. Why do we have more people registered to vote than are eligible to?
Do I hope I am wrong? Absolutely, because the alternative undermines who we are as a state and a nation and calls into question what have we become. No matter how you package it and serve it up, unless we as a people can trust that our elections are free, fair and accurate we are not a free people.
Our elections are only as good as our data and currently that data is atrocious. As a people must we demand transparency and accountability and unless we do, unless we restore trust in the election process, we are nothing more than a people who are being ruled and not a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
I would rather be wrong than right but the data suggests that I’m not.
 
Allan Giberti is the host of RI Red Radio on 990WBOB.com. You can listen to Allan live on Mondays and Tuesdays at 7pm Eastern

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