NORTH SMITHFIELD/BURRILLVILLE – With just days remaining before the General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 5, candidates for local office continued to make their final appeals to voters this week.
But for many in northern Rhode Island, it seems the ballots have already been cast.
As of Friday, Nov. 1, 3,176 North Smithfield residents had already weighed in on this year’s contest, counting mail-in ballots and early in-person votes cast at Town Hall.
During the last presidential race in 2020, when both traditional and other votes were tallied, a total of 7,206 North Smithfield residents had weighed in. If turnout is similar in 2024, the election is already a thing of the past for more than 1/3 of the town’s voting population.
Numbers were similar in Burrillville, where 3,232 residents had cast 2024 ballots as of Friday afternoon, while a total of 8,538 weighed in during the 2020 presidential election cycle.
Whether due to increased voter education of the option or the mere convenience it provides, it seems the state’s push toward early voting has forever altered the campaign drama leading up to Election Day. Started as a means to allow for social distancing amid the pandemic concerns of 2020, early voting was still counted as “emergency voting,” at the time.
But in 2022, Gov. Dan McKee signed into law the ‘Let RI Vote Act’ which aimed to make mail voting easier by allowing online applications, and permitted any voter to use a mail ballot or an emergency mail ballot without needing an excuse for why they couldn’t visit their polling location on Election Day. It also made permanent the option of casting a ballot in-person in the 20 days leading up to any election.
And so, in 2024, it seems mail and early ballots have nearly matched pandemic levels.
According to data with the state Board of Elections, 4,681 North Smithfield voters weighed in prior to Election Day in November of 2020, when schools and town halls across Rhode Island close to provide time for residents to visit their polling place. The figure included 2,187 mail ballots in the presidential race and 2,491 emergency – or early – ballots.
By comparison, of the 3,176 who had cast ballots as of this Friday, 570 had done so by mail and 2,606 voted early. The early voting option will continue on Monday, Nov. 4, when registered voters can still cast ballots in the Town Council chambers at 83 Green St. from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
On Tuesday, Town Hall will be closed, with voters to report to their regular polling location, which can be found here along with sample ballots.
State Board of Election data shows that of Burrillville’s 4,962 non-traditional voters in 2020, 2,110 voted by mail and 2,852 voted early in person. In 2024 so far those figures totaled 676 and 2,556, respectively.
Burrillville’s early voting will continue at the American Legion Hall next door to Town Hall on Harrisville Main Street from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. prior to Election Day Tuesday, when six polling locations will be open.
How those residents voted – and who is on track to win races from the presidential race to the local town council – remains unknown. The Board of Elections will begin to release the results of mail, early and in person voting at 8 p.m. Tuesday night, leaving some excitement still to come on election day.
Drop box totals will be added in from Wednesday, Nov. 6 through Thursday, Nov. 7 and provisional ballots may continue through the following day, with final results to be certified by Thursday, Nov. 21.
Visit NRI NOW Tuesday night and in the days to follow for complete coverage and reactions to the results in all three of our coverage communities.
