Projo Politics Blog

Just before 4 p.m. today, state Republican Party Chairman Giovanni Cicione said the party filed a motion with the state Supreme Court seeking an emergency order to force the issuance of nominating papers to five Republican candidates now in limbo.

Yesterday, the state GOP appealed to the state Board of Elections after one community -- and then another -- rejected the Republicans that Cicione nominated as General Assembly candidates last week to fill holes in the party's election slate.

The Journal reported today that election officials in Providence and Pawtucket were rejecting the candidates on grounds the nominations should have been filed with local boards of canvassers, not the secretary of state.

Republicans asserted that arose from advice from a staffer in the office of Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis, a Democrat, but Mollis spokesman Chris Barnet countered yesterday: "We dispute that we gave them any advice at all on how to file their declaration papers."

-- Journal staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Katherine Gregg, of the Journal State House Bureau

 Tags  elections General Assembly Politics

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