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February 1, 2008

Lottery machine determines ballot order of candidates

PROVIDENCE -- Here's how the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates' names will appear on the March 4 Rhode Island primary ballot -- courtesy of a borrowed lottery machine that's more often used to determine a jackpot.

"Uncommitted" will appear first on the Democratic ballot, followed by Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama.

John McCain will be first on the Republican ballot, followed by Ron Paul, Hugh Cort, Mitt Romney, Uncommitted, Alan Keyes and Mike Huckabee.

Today at 5 p.m. in the state room of the State House, Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis used a borrowed lottery machine to determine the order. A Rhode Island Lottery representative removed "specially calibrated, numbered white plastic balls as they floated to the top of the lottery machine," Mollis' office said in a news release. Each candidate was represented by a ball.

Mollis announced the candidates' names in the order the balls appeared. Mollis' office said about 20 people attended.

In other action, the Secretary of State’s office also used the machine to figure out ballot position for the 184 Rhode Islanders competing to attend the Democratic or Republican National Conventions as a delegate.

Some of the names on the ballot are Governor Carcieri, former Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty, House Minority Leader Robert Watson, former Providence Mayor Joseph Paolino and former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Myrth York.

The Secretary of State's office added that tomorrow is the deadline for registering to vote in the state’s presidential primary. City and town officials have made arrangements to register applicants, despite the deadline falling on a Saturday.

For information about the primary or registering to vote, go to www.sec.state.ri.us.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 5:48 PM | Permalink

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