PRESS
RELEASE
from Rhode Island General Assembly
April 12, 2013
House Oversight issues final report on 2012 election
Calls for better
overall planning, new machines, more training for poll workers
STATE
HOUSE – The House Committee on Oversight has issued its final report on
the 2012 elections, listing findings and recommendations stemming from
a series of hearings on problems encountered during the November
balloting.
While the committee reports that the vast majority of
polling places reported no problems and that there was no evidence the
Voter ID law or changes in the size and location of polling places
caused any problems or delays, the Oversight Committee report does call
for better overall election planning, more training for poll workers
and the purchase of new voting machines for the state.
Rep.
Michael J. Marcello (D-Dist. 41, Scituate, Cranston), Chairman of the
Oversight Committee, said the committee is issuing its findings and
recommendations “with confidence that they will improve the voters’
experience at the polls. If implemented, the committee’s
recommendations will help to improve election planning, poll worker
training and recruitment and data collection.”
The committee
conducted four hearings on the 2013 election and problems that were
experienced at polling places, receiving testimony from the Office of
the Secretary of State, the State Board of Elections, other public
officials and representatives of several groups, including the ACLU,
NAACP, League of Women Voters and Common Cause.
The committee
heard testimony that adequate polling places are difficult to find in
many voting districts, that recruiting capable, reliable poll workers
has proven to be difficult in most municipalities, that there are
concerns about ballots with multiple pages, and that the current voting
machines, purchased in 1997, are no longer adequate.
The
committee also expressed a concern that, as of March of this year, the
ballot reconciliation of the election results of the 2012 general
elections had not been completed.
The committee recommended
that the Board of Elections, working with the local Boards of
Canvassers, needs to establish written minimum standards for the
selection of polling places, including adequate parking, signage and
lighting. As a separate recommendation, the committee would like the
Board of Elections to work with local Boards of Canvassers to collect
data on the length of the lines at polling places, the peak times of
voting and the length of time voters take in the privacy booths.
Several
of the committee’s recommendations focuses on staffing of the polls and
recruitment and training of the poll workers, including:
-- The
Board of Elections needs to increase the number of poll workers and
require greeters at polling places with an historic high turnout or
with a history of long lines at the polls;
-- The Board of
Elections, local Boards of Canvassers and Secretary of State’s Office
should adopt a state plan to recruit high quality poll workers and
implement a program to certify poll workers, including a test.
-- The Board of Elections should improve its training of election
clerks to decrease mistakes on elections certificates.
-- The Board needs to hire and train more technicians to repair
machines on election day.
Several
of the committee’s recommendations impact on the Office of the
Secretary of State. The committee would like the Secretary of State’s
Office to have the authority to set a maximum number of pages for the
ballot, and to undertake a review of the ballot designs for ease of
voting and to consider new designs for bilingual ballots that is less
confusing. The committee is also recommending that the Secretary of
State should be added as an ex-officio member of the Board of Elections
to increase communications between the two offices.
It is also
the committee’s recommendation to support funding to the Board of
Elections for the purchase of new voting machines, and to direct the
board to develop a plan to replace the machines before the next
presidential election in 2016.
Other members of the committee
are Rep. Arthur J. Corvese (D-Dist. 55, North Providence), Co-Vice
Chair; Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, Narragansett, South Kingstown),
Co-Vice Chair; Rep. Karen L. MacBeth (D-Dist. 52, Cumberland),
Secretary; Rep. Michael W. Chippendale (R-Dist. 40, Coventry, Foster,
Glocester); Rep. Elaine A. Coderre (D-Dist. 60, Pawtucket); Rep. Lisa
Baldelli Hunt (D-Dist. 49, Woonsocket); Rep. Jeremiah T. O’Grady
(D-Dist. 46, Lincoln, Pawtucket); Rep. Thomas A. Palangio (D-Dist. 3,
Providence); Rep. Patricia A. Serpa (D-Dist. 27, West Warwick,
Coventry, Warwick); Rep. Lisa P. Tomasso (D-Dist. 29, Coventry, West
Greenwich); Rep. Donna M. Walsh (D-Dist. 36, Charlestown, New Shoreham,
South Kingstown, Westerly), and Rep. Thomas Winfield (D-Dist. 53,
Smithfield, Glocester).
A link to the full report:
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/Reports/Elections%20Oversight%20report%202013.pdf
For more information, contact: Randall T. Szyba,
Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-2457