Update: Mollis over DeRamel in Secretary of State race
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September 12, 2006 ArchivesSeptember 12
In the Democratic primary for the Secretary of State, Ralph Mollis was holding a commanding lead over DeRamel with 97 percent of the vote counted. The unofficial count from the Board of Elections had Mollis leading 39,952 to to 35,679, with 502 of 515 precincts reporting. 
At 10:45 p.m. Chafee had a still-growing lead when Laffey acknowledged that he had lost, in a speech to his supporters at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick. With 81 percent of the votes counted, Chafee had 27,580 votes to 23,579 for Laffey. That gave Chafee a comfortable 8 percentage-point lead. Chafee gave his victory speech at around 11 p.m. to a noisy crowd of supporters at the Biltmore Providence. The incumbent could not contain his smiles as he thanked them. "You inspire me," he said to the clapping crowd. Chafee said he believed that the state of Rhode Island had benefitted from his term, and, he said, "today's vote shows that Rhode Islanders agree." Pausing for cheers, he thanked those who said "yes to thoughtfulness, yes to honesty and yes to independence." Hundreds of Chafee supporters began celebrating shortly after 10 p.m. The mood was electric as campaign workers watched Laffey deliver his concession speech. Governor Carcieri told the crowd: "We're rolling into November and we're going to have a sweep.'' But it won't be easy, Chafee said, looking forward to his challenge from Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, who easily beat his primary opponents. "Let us now turn our attention to the race ahead," Chafee told his supporters near the end of his speech. "It will take everything we've got." Get the latest unofficial tally in the Chafee-Laffey race, from the state Board of Elections. -- With Journal and projo.com staff reports
U.S. Rep. James R. Langevin today turned back an aggressive challenge from Brown University professor Prof. Jennifer Lawless in the Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District seat. And Jonathan P. Scott easily topped Edmund R. Leather in the Republican primary for the 1st Congressional District seat, winning the chance to face Democratic U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy. With 502 of 515 precincts reporting at about 11:30 p.m., Langevin had 61.6 percent of the vote, compared to with 38.4 percent for Lawless, according to unofficial results from the state Board of Elections. Langevin will go on to face an independent candidate, former Democratic state Rep. Rodney Driver, in the November general elections. Scott had 69 percent of the vote, compared to with 31 percent for Leather, according to the unofficial Board of Elections results. -- Journal staff writer Edward Fitzpatrick
Former Adjunct Gen. Reginald A. Centracchio secured the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor yesterday, beating retired insurance executive Kernan "Kerry" F. King by a two-to-one margin. "There is no right more precious than the right to vote. My life's work has been trying to protect that right," Centracchio told supporters last night. "Remember," he said, "the purpose of the general election is to elect a general." Democrat state Sen. Elizabeth H. Roberts easily won her party's spot on the ticket, beating out builder Spencer E. Dickinson with 82 percent of the vote. Roberts and Centracchio now face Robert J. Healey Jr., the Cool Moose party candidate, in a three-way race. -- Scott Mayerowitz, Journal State House Bureau
Two incumbent mayors won against challengers in their primaries, but a third lost to the man he'd unseated two years ago. Unofficial results from today's primary election showed Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline and Pawtucket Mayor James E. Doyle handily winning the Democratic primaries in their cities. But Cumberland first-term Mayor David S. Iwuc lost his race to former Mayor Daniel J. McKee, whom he beat in 2004. Republican Dr. Daniel F. Harrop is poised to challenge Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline in the November election, according to unofficial results from the Board of Elections. This was the first Republican mayoral primary in Providence in 28 years. Harrop, a psychiatrist, led Republican David B. Talan, a computer systems analyst, who has run for mayor before, with 1,264 votes to Talan's 735 votes. Cicilline easily defeated challenger Christopher Young, who was also running in the U.S. Senate race. Cicilline had 10,635 votes with 96 of 101 precincts reporting, to Young's 3,621. -- Journal staff writer Amanda Milkovits
Buoyed by his overwhelming primary win, Sheldon Whitehouse says voters "want to see our country take a new direction." Whitehouse sailed through a Democratic primary for U.S. Senate yesterday, defeating a newcomer on the statewide political landscape as well as one relative unknown, setting the stage for a fierce battle with the Republican Party come November. With 75 percent of the votes counted by 10:30 p.m. Whitehouse had clearly run away with the race with about 82 percent of the vote, compared with 11 percent for Christopher R. Young and 7 percent for Carl Sheeler. Two hours earlier, as polling places approached their final hour of operation, Whitehouse said he had no preference who his Republican challenger would be in November, either Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee or Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey. In the end, Chafee won the GOP nomination Tuesday night. Whitehouse said the strongest message he had heard from voters across the state is "they want to see our country take a new direction. They want real solutions to problems they've seen Washington ignore, so sending back more of the same isn't going to make a difference."
As of 10:21 p.m., with 338 of 515, or 66 percent of precincts reporting statewide, former state Adj. General Reginald Centracchio held a commanding lead over Kernan King for the Republican nomination in the lieutenant governor's race, 24,759, or 67 percent, to 11,977, or 33 percent.
PAWTUCKET -- Mayor James E. Doyle, the Democratic incumbent, appears to be leading his challenger, Thomas McGill, by a 2-1 lead. In the only City Council seat primary, Democrat Henry S. Kinch Jr. was leading incumbent Albert J. Vitale jr. by about 58 votes, according to unofficial results at the polls. -- Journal staff writer John Castellucci
With 40 percent of the precincts reporting, the incumbent Rep. James Langevin holds a solid lead over challenger Jennifer Lawless: Langevin has 8,394 votes, while Lawless has 5,193 in an unofficial tally from the Board of Elections. More to come...
CUMBERLAND -- At the headquarters for incumbent Mayor David S. Iwuc headquarters, it's very quiet as the numbers start rolling in, and it looks like it may be a blowout for Democratic challenger Daniel J. McKee. -- Journal staff writer Philip Marcelo, at Iwuc campaign headquarters
In the race for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, Reginald Centracchio is dominating his opponent, Kernan "Kerry" King. With roughly 40 percent reported, Centracchio has 18,516 votes, while King has 9,108. More to come...
PROVIDENCE -- The crowd gathered at the Chafee party inside the Biltmore hotel is upbeat while awaiting the results of today's primary. As of 9:20 p.m., Chafee was reported to be inside the hotel, but not in the ballroom with the rest of his supporters. The packed ballroom is adorned with green balloons that read "Keep Chafee." Various journalists representing a host of national media outlets are in the room as well, underscoring the high stakes in today's contest. -- With reports from Journal staff writer Katherine Gregg
Polls have closed across the state and the Board of Elections will soon begin putting out unofficial results in the various primary battles. Projo.com will post the results as soon as they become available...
The two candidates engaged in a fierce fight for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate from Rhode Island cast their own votes, stood on city streets and visited outside polling places today. View their day through the lens of Journal photographers: U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee / Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey
With interest in the Chafee, Laffey race, the state record for turnout in a Republican primary may be broken today. That mark -- 45,023 voters -- was set in the 1994 Republican primary when gubernatorial candidates Ron Machtley and Lincoln Almond squared off. No official numbers have been reported, but several districts reported running out of forms used at polling places today.
North Providence Mayor A. Ralph Mollis ended his day outside the polling place at the Elmwood Community Center in Providence, shaking voters' hands with his wife, Laurie, at his side. On a street corner near the community center, dozens of people gathered and chanted candidates' names at passing cars. Two Providence police officers minded the crowd and directed traffic. Mollis is facing Guillaume de Ramel for the Democratic nomination. Mollis attributed his support in that neighborhood to his attendance at a block party on Broad Street during the summer, and to the efforts of campaign volunteer Diana Perez. One voter stopped to take a picture with Mollis, and confided that eight people in his household alone had voted for him. Later, he walked by in the other direction, heading toward the polling place, clutching a woman by the arm. "One more!" he said. Across the street, volunteers for Carl Sheeler's U.S. Senate campaign handed out spiral notebooks with Sheeler stickers on the cover. "Grab some for the kids," Mollis jokingly told his wife. A second later, he added, "I don't think Sheldon would like that." (Sheeler is running against former attorney general Sheldon Whitehouse.) -- Journal Staff Writer Elizabeth Gudrais
While the vote on a proposed West Warwick casino is nearly two months away, casino supporters showed up in force at polling places around the state during today's primary election. "Support the Narragansett Indian Casino! Vote YES on question #1 on November 7th." reads one flier passed out by casino supporters outside a polling places today. The flier also touts the creation of thousands of casino-related jobs and millions of dollars in "guarantee property tax relief." If approved, an unknown percentage of casino tax revenue would be directed to cities and towns, but the constitutional amendment as currently written does specify how municipalities should use the money. There were also some casino opponents at polling places today, though they weren't as stongly represented as the casino supporters. "Harrah's wants to rewrite our consitution. That would be a very bad deal for Rhode Island," reads a flier passed out the anti-casino group Save Our State.
Sen. Lincoln Chafee and Stephen Laffey will learn the results of today's primary along with their campaigns at pre-planned "victory parties." The Chafee campaign will be on the 17th floor of the Providence Biltmore hotel inside the main ballroom. Laffey, meanwhile, plans to be in the function room of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick.
With a British flag painted on its roof and tiny British flags painted on the backs of its two rear-view mirrors, the car just sparkled in the sunshine. And its message blared from its Rhode Island “Ocean State” license plate with the sailboat on it. Although the car arrives at City Hall every day, and has for about a year, even some who work there couldn’t point to its owner -- Robert W. Martin, 36, the city’s Webmaster. He calls himself “just a Warwick guy” but also “a big fan of voting.” On his 18th birthday, while a student at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., he “ran out and registered.” He became a voting fan while growing up with the example set by his dad, Warwick resident Leo Martin. “He always said, ‘You’ve got to make sure you vote because if you don’t, I don’t want to hear you complaining,’” the younger Martin said. -- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson
Pile after pile, the sheets rose on the front counter -- about 8 inches high -- ready for action. The purpose? The creation of perhaps a couple thousand extra voter-disaffiliation forms, plus roughly cut carbon-copy paper. The new forms aren’t as neat as the official voter-disaffiliation forms from the state, with the yellow carbon copies glued to the top sheet. But they’ll do the job of gathering the information a voter writes in for the Board of Canvassers and provide a copy for voters to take home. City Board of Canvassers clerk Joseph E. Gallucci said about a third of Warwick’s 34 polling locations were running low on the forms. He said polling locations are finding that “more people than not” are choosing a ballot for the primary of their choice and then disaffiliating from that party once they’ve voted. U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., who's facing a tough primary battle today, was formerly mayor of Warwick. Polling locations in Cranston -- home of Chafee challenger and Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey -- also reported running low on disaffilation forms. -- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson
Outside Cranston City Hall this morning two "Keep Chafee" signs competed with two "Laffey U.S. Senate" signs along with red, white and blue signs for a local city council race, the state Senate District 28 race and the Cranston mayoral race. Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey is pitted against incumbent Lincoln D. Chafee, in a U.S. Senate primary that has drawn the eyes of the nation and could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. -- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson
The city of Cranston is running low on voter disaffiliation forms, even after the state sent more forms today, according to the city's Canvassing Department. When unaffiliated voters cast ballots in a party primary, they automatically become registered with that party. If they want to remain unaffiliated, thet must fill out a disaffiliation form when they leave the polls. (They can also legally do it later by going to City Hall, but who needs the bother?) Maria Madonna, a clerk for Cranston's Canvassing Department, said that people are not disaffiliating in unusually high numbers, but that the state Board of Elections did not send enough of the forms. "I don't agree with that," said Robert Kando, executive director of the state board. He said each polling place got 100 disaffiliation forms, the same as any election. He also said that any community running low on forms can call the state for more. "We've sent out, I think, 1,000 or 1,500 extra forms to the Cranston Board of Canvassers," he said. "There's really plenty of forms." So why does Kando think Cranston is running low? "Probably because people are disaffiliating at a greater rate than anticipated." -- Journal staff writer Paul Edward Parker
At the single polling place for Richmond, the Richmond-Carolina Fire District Station House on Route 112, a polling official said the town had "never" had a turnout for a primary like it's having today. By 11 a.m., 178 votes had been cast. Of the votes that had been cast so far, Town Clerk Mary Morgan estimated that 75 percent had been disafilliated. Asked why, she said she believed it was due to a couple of the candidates that happen to be in the race today. She didn't name names. -- Andrea Panciera
PROVIDENCE -- Rhode Island schools are closed today for primary elections. It's a new law that went into effect in late June without the governor's signature. The Board of Elections says it proposed the change for the students' safety while schools are used as polling stations. School officials say they were not consulted about the new provision, which they say is disruptive for classes and unnecessary. -- The Associated Press
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