PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Rhode Island officials are preparing for a rare Wednesday primary, when voters will select nominees for governor, U.S. Senate and other offices.
This year’s primary is on a Wednesday due to the holiday of Rosh Hashanah on Tuesday.
Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea is encouraging voters to check sample ballots and find their polling location at vote.ri.gov.
Another change for many voters this year will come when they check in at one of the state’s 416 polling places. For the first time, all polling places will use electronic poll books, according to Joseph Graziano, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office. Electronic poll books had previously been rolled out in some polling places but had not yet been used statewide.
He said they have been used across the country and have been shown to decrease wait times for voters, and to increase data accuracy.
“Interacting with the polling place is going to be the same. Instead of signing a paper ballot application, you’re signing the electronic poll book,” Graziano said. “You just give them your ID, and you can scan the barcode on your driver’s license.”
Polls open in most cities and towns at 7 a.m. Polls close at 8 p.m.
Nearly half of all 782,000 Rhode Island voters are unaffiliated with a party. They may choose vote in either primary on Wednesday.
Around 308,000 voters are registered Democrats, while 92,000 are registered Republicans.
Turnout in the 2014 primaries was 44 percent, and in 2010 was 49 percent. In 2006, during a hotly contested primary for U.S. Senate, turnout was 58 percent.
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