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November 29, 2006

Fortunato: Rejected ballots may be reviewed

PROVIDENCE -- Over the strong objection of the state Board of Elections, Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Fortunato Jr. ruled this afternoon that the public may inspect photocopies of ballots rejected by voting machines to see if the votes should count.

The Board of Elections argued in court this afternoon that the voting machines used in recent years are the most fair and objective way to determine a voter's intent.

But Fortunato disagreed. He noted that a machine may reject a ballot in which a voter circled a candidate's name instead of connecting the arrow as instructed. In such a case, the voter's intent is clear and it should be counted, he said.

"We're dealing with a fundamental right," Fortunato said. "Surely we cannot surrender elections to machines."

The ruling gives new hope to candidates involved in very close races -- such as East Providence, Tiverton and East Greenwich -- who hoped that the inclusion of rejected ballots may give them an edge.

It's unclear how and when the Board of Elections will incorporate the rejected ballots in those races. The board argued that the process may be extremely time-consuming.

Today's hearing was the first major challenge to state election policy since electronic voting machines were introduced eight years ago. Read the full story in today's Journal.

Two candidates involved in tight races – Joseph Larisa Jr. of East Providence and Allan W. Fung of Cranston – challenged the Board of Election's policy earlier in the month, asking for permission to manually inspect ballots that cannot be read by the machines.

In addition to the Board of Elections, lawyers for Larisa and his challenger, Isadore Ramos, made arguments at today's hearing, while the Cranston mayoral candidates did not. Fung conceded defeat yesterday and withdrew his court challenge.

Fortunato said he would hold another court hearing tomorrow morning if, upon inspection, the Larisa campaign determines that enough rejected ballots should be counted as to make a difference in the race.

Larisa trails by 16 votes.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Benjamin N. Gedan

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 2:18 PM | Permalink

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