Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

State Rep. Bruce Long, Republican incumbent from Middletown, tonight appeared to lose his seat to Democrat Deborah L. Ruggiero, according to unofficial results from the state Board of Elections.

Tallies from all six precincts:

Ruggiero: 3,360

Long: 2,870

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
The R.I. Republican party held a post-election gathering at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Providence tonight. The faces of Doreen Costa, left, of North Kingstown and Stephen DeNuccio, of Providence, tell the story as they watch returns showing Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama leading in many key states. GOP candidate John McCain has since conceded the historic race, making Obama the nation's first black president.

Incumbent state Sen. June N. Gibbs, the octogenarian Middletown Republican, tonight appeared to lose the seat she's held for 24 years in Senate District 12. Democrat Louis P. DiPalma holds at least a 700-vote lead, according to unofficial returns at the state Board of Elections.

The result came on a night that saw the GOP's already small General Assembly representation become smaller still.

With all 14 precincts reporting, the tally is:

DiPalma: 6.145
Gibbs: 5,473

The race is for a district that represents Middletown, Little Compton and parts of Newport and Tiverton.

DiPalma is a two-term Middletown councilman.

Despite the state's economic woes and its dubious distinction of having the nation's highest unemployment rate, Rhode Islanders today nevertheless overwhelmingly approved borrowing $87 million through a bond issue for road and bridge construction and repair projects.

With results in from 530 of the state's 541 precincts, the vote was 289,705 to 88,322 in favor of the bond issue, which was one of two questions -- separate from choosing candidates -- on the ballot.

The Journal reported that the borrowed money has leverage, with each dollar giving the state access to about four dollars -- a total of $436 million -- of the Federal Highway Administration money during the next two years.

Journal photo / Connie Grosch
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed takes the stage at the Rhode Island Democrats' post-electionc gathering at the Providence Biltmore hotel tonight. Reed defeated Robert Tingle, by with about 73 percent of the vote to Tingle's 27 percent.

Get the unofficial tally.

Journal photo / Connie Grosch
Rep. Patrick Kennedy takes the stage at the Democratic gathering at the Biltmore, with his mother, Joan, and his brother Ted Kennedy Jr.'s daughter, Kiley. Kennedy took on two challengers, Jonathan P. Scott, Republican, and Kenneth A. Capalbo, independent, to retain his seat with about 68 percent of the vote.

Get the unofficial tally.

Journal photo / Connie Grosch
U.S. Rep. James Langevin takes his turn on stage at the Democratic gathering at the Biltmore. Langevin beat Mark Zaccaria, with about 70 percent of the vote.

Get the unofficial tally

Democrat Barack Obama is declared the winner in the race for president, and that national win also reflects a consensus with Rhode Island voters.

With 93 percent of the vote counted, Obama received 262,496 or 62.9 percent of the vote, with Republican John McCain following in at 147,.921 or 35.4 percent of the statewide vote at around 11:08 p.m.

Independent Ralph Nader garnered 4,321 votes, followed by Libertarian Bob Barr at 1,245; Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney 690 Rhode Island votes, Chuck Baldwin 599 and Gloria La Riva108.

is widening his lead over Republican John McCain in the presidential race in Rhode Island, according to unofficial returns tonight at the state Board of Elections.

With 336 of 580 Rhode Island precincts reporting at 10 p.m., Obama has 156,649 votes, or 62.2 percent, to McCain's 91,121 votes, or 36.2 percent.

Check here for updated vote tallies on the presidential result in Rhode Island throughout the evening.

Republican incumbent state Sen. David E. Bates holds the lead in tonight's close race with Democratic challenger Lawrence J. Signore in Senate District 32, according to unofficial returns tonight at the state Board of Elections.

Bates represents parts of Barrington and Warren.

With 10 of the 13 voting precincts reporting, the numbers are:

Bates: 5,046
Signore: 4,790

He's known humorously as "Landslide Lally" for narrow wins in past elections, and tonight state Rep. Donald J. Lally Jr., Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, appears to have kept his House District 33 seat yet again, according to unofficial returns at the state Board of Elections.

With all nine voting precincts in, the numbers are:

Lally: 2,813

Independent Christopher H. Little: 2,360

Republican Tony Cirillo: 1,998

Independent Christopher G. Buffum: 126

Get updated results for this race here throughout tonight.

State Rep. Nicholas Gorham, a Coventry Republican in a Democrat-dominated legislature and an outspoken voice during State House debates, appears to have lost his seat to Democrat Scott M. Pollard tonight, according to unofficial returns at the state Board of Elections.

With all seven voting precincts reporting, the numbers are:

Pollard: 3,603
Gorham: 3,448

By Talia Buford
Journal staff writer

Challenger Steve Colantuono defeated incumbent Robert Cushman for the Ward 1 City Council seat in Warwick tonight.

According to numbers from the Colantuono camp, he received 2,593 votes compared to 2,213 votes for Cushman.

At a joint party for Warwick Republicans at Mayor Scott Avedisian's headquarters on Post Road, Colantuono said residents were looking for a change.

"They're looking for someone on the council who will work with [Avedisian] and be reasonable," he said. "That's what we're here to do."

The two have squared off before, in 2006, when Cushman defeated Colantuono, then a Democrat, in the state primary.

Colantuono said much of his support came from the local AFL-CIO, and the teachers' union.

"We've got to keep the momentum going forward," he said. "We have to make sure this city keeps going in the direction we're headed in."

Mayor Scott Avedisian, who held the City Council seat for nine years representing Ward 1, praised Colantuono and told the rest of the council to embrace change.

"The eight people left on the council always talk about how bad things are better wake up tomorrow and understand that the best days are ahead in our city."

Avedisian said that Colantuono will be a good addition to the group.

"It's nice to have a partner and look at government service as something noble and someone to work with you instead of being negative."

Incumbent state Sen. June N. Gibbs, the octogenarian Middletown Republican, is in jeopardy tonight of losing the seat she's held for 24 years in Senate District 12. Democrat Louis P. DiPalma holds at least a 700-vote lead, according to unofficial returns at the state Board of Elections.

With 11 0f 14 of the precincts reporting, the tally is:

DiPalma: 4,792
Gibbs: 4,052

The race is for a district that represents Middletown, Little Compton and parts of Newport and Tiverton.

DiPalma is a two-term Middletown councilman.

Republican Allan W. Fung holds a 7,000-plus vote lead over Democrat Cynthia M. Fogarty in the Cranston mayoral race, according to unofficial returns from most of the city's precincts tonight.

Both are former members of the City Council and have run for mayor before: Fogarty lost the 2006 primary to current Mayor Michael T. Napolitano, while Fung battled Napolitano in the general election, only to lose by 79 votes.

Napolitano declined to seek a second term.

-- With reports from projo.com's Pam Cotter

No mail ballots in the state will be counted tonight, said Robert Kando, executive director of the state Board of Elections, because problems at a polling place in Cranston and misprinted ballots in Smithfield will delay counts in those communities until tomorrow.

That means some close races won't be decided until sometime tomorrow morning.

In Cranston, workers at the polling place at the Santa Maria DiPrata Society on Walnut Grove Avenue, fed the wrong ballots into a voting machine after it failed.

In Smithfield, incorrectly printed ballots went to all 10 polling places, where the voting machines would not accept them because of the mistake. The Board of Elections had correct ballots printed by late morning, but hundreds of incorrect ballots had already been marked by voters.

The situation left election officials with no polling place returns from the Cranston precinct and the 10 Smithfield precincts.

Kando said all the mail ballots cast in the state are counted together. He said he was afraid that releasing total returns statewide with only the mail ballot votes from Cranston and Smithfield would be confusing because the public could mistake those incomplete totals for complete returns.

-- Journal staff writer Bruce Landis

Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed, the Democratic incumbent, appears headed to victory with a commanding lead over Republican challenger Donna Perry tonight in the Senate District 13 race, according to unofficial returns at the state Board of Elections.

With 13 out of 14 precincts in, the tally is:

Paiva Weed: 6,101 votes

Perry: 3,303

The Senate district race takes place in Newport -- Paiva Weed's home community -- and Jamestown.

Acting Charlestown Council president James M. Mageau, an outspoken figure on one of Rhode Island's most colorful town councils and the council's only incumbent seeking re-election, tonight appears to have lost his seat on the panel, according to unofficial results at the state Board of Elections.

All told, nine candidates vied for five seats on the council. Besides Mageau -- who was not endorsed by the local Democratic Committee, there are two other Democrats, two Republicans and four independents.

With all seven precints reporting, the unofficial tally shows that Democrats were shut out and a slate of independents and Republicans won council seats. Here is the unofficial tally:

Marjorie F. Frank, independent: 2,608 votes

Gregory J. Avedisian, independent: 2,597 votes

Richard H. Hosp, independent: 2,521 votes

Forrester C. Safford, Republican: 2,426 votes

Charlene W. Dunn, Republican: 2,424 votes

Raymond Stanley Dreczko Jr., Democrat: 1,350 voters

Ralph C. Conti, Democrat: 1.335 votes

Frank L. Bradbury, independent: 1,069 votes

In the town's politics this year, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance played a role as well, endorsing a mixed slate of Republicans and independents: Dunn, Safford, Avedesian, Frank, and Hosp -- and those are just the candidates who took the top five spots in unofficial results tonight.

In a historic upset in Rhode Island politics tonight, powerful Senate President Joseph Montalbano, the 10-term Democratic incumbent, conceded in a speech to supporters in North Providence that he has lost his seat to independent challenger Edward J. O'Neill in Senate District 17.

Montalbano conceded the race at Blooperz Bar and Grill, where about 200 supporters gathered and a mood of sadness permeated.

With 15 of the 17 precincts' results in as of 10 p.m., the race is

O'Neill: 5,718 votes

Montalbano: 4,947 votes

O'Neill is a well-funded political independent from Lincoln, who has shown he's not afraid to attack the powerful legislative leader.

Much of O'Neill's criticism hinges on a 2007 state Ethics Commission case in which Montalbano agreed last September to pay a $12,000 fine, the third-highest penalty in the commission's history.

Montalbano made no admission of guilt as part of the settlement, which addressed his failure to disclose legal work for the Town of West Warwick on property related to the Harrah's-Narragansett Indian casino plan and his failure to file statements disclosing that his official actions in the Senate might pose a conflict of interest.

Check the latest unofficial tallies from the state Board of Elections.

-- With reports from Journal photographer Bob Thayer and projo.com's Pam Cotter and Journ al archives

A major upset may be on the way in Rhode Island politics tonight as Senate President Joseph Montalbano, the 10-term Democratic incumbent, is losing to independent challenger Edward J. O'Neill in the Senate District 17 race, according to unoffical returns at the state Board of Elections.

With 12 out of 17 precincts reporting, the vote tally is:

O'Neill: 4,477

Montalbano: 3,668

Lincoln accounts for the Senate District race's s biggest voter block -- almost 44 percent of its voters. North Providence holds 38 percent of the voters and Pawtucket accounts for 19 percent.

Montalbano is a Pawtucket native who now lives in North Providence.

Get updated results for this race here throughout tonight.

In the District 2 congressional race, incumbent Rep. James Langevin is leading his challenger, Mark Zaccaria, by about 2 to 1, with 78 precincts reporting.

Democrat Langevin had 36,973 votes, to Republican Zaccaria's 16,075.

Check for updates.

With 14 voting precincts in, Rhode Islanders tonight are so far showing signs of support for borrowing $87 million through a bond issue for road and bridge construction and repair projects.

It's Question 1 on the ballot and so far the tally is:

Yes: 5,638
No: 1,340

It's just one precinct's tallies, but Democrat Barack Obama has begun with a lead over Republican John McCain in the early counting in the presidential race in Rhode Island, according to unofficial returns tonight at the state Board of Elections.

With one precinct in, it's Obama 64 votes to McCain's 44.

Check here for updated vote tallies on the presidential result in Rhode Island throughout the evening.

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, the Democratic incumbent, has gained an early lead over Republican challenger Robert G. Tingle in the U.S. Senate election, according to unofficial returns from the state Board of Elections.

With 51 precincts reporting, Reed has 20,484 votes and Tingle has 8,346 votes.

Get updated results for this race here throughout tonight.

PROVIDENCE -- About 3,000 misprinted Smithfield ballots, which included the name of a council candidate who had dropped out of the race, may delay the final tally results in that town.

Voters' choices on those ballots will need to be copied onto new ballots at the state Board of Elections in Providence before being counted. State officials said the final tallies in Smithfield may not be known until tomorrow morning.

At least some of the stacks of Smithfield ballots were delivered to the Board of Elections tonight.

Robert Kando, the state Board of Elections executive director, said earlier tonight that the misprinted ballots are being brought to the state Board of Elections offices in Providence tonight. Officials will copy the information each voter put on the misprinted ballots onto the new correctly printed ballots. Then the new ballots will be run through the machine and added to the total.

The problem affected all 10 Smithfield polling locations.

Polls are now closing, and a large crowd of at least 60 has gathered at the elections offices in Providence -- elections officials, the media and observers from various political campaigns.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Philip Marcelo and projo.com's Pam Cotter

BOSTON (AP) -- Massachusetts voters picked Democrats Barack Obama for president and Sen. John Kerry for re-election Tuesday amid a projected record-setting turnout, but the fate of three weighty ballot questions remained in question as polls closed.

Get the latest ...

-- Associated Press

So, now, we wait.

Polls close at 9 p.m. around Rhode Island. The state Board of Elections will be collecting unofficial results from Boards of Canvassers in 39 cities and towns.

If all goes as planned, those results will start showing up online between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m.

You can see them on the Board of Elections Web site here, or go to the home page of projo.com, which is publishing the same feed. (Presentations differ a bit.)

Projo.com and The Journal also have staff up at the Board of Elections, where they'll be tracking on key races, any glitches or other ballot-related news.

We're publishing the latest local election news in our 7to7newsblog tonight, which you can also see from our home page.

We'll be picking up reports being published for The Journal newspaper as the night wears on, too, here.
And, of course, you'll have the opportunity to sound off on the results.

So, take your pick: Get the numbers, check the blog or read about the final results -- or, at least, we hope they're final. Only time will tell.

SMITHFIELD -- New ballots were delivered to Smithfield after election officials realized the ballots that had been distributed early this morning included the name of a candidate to the Town Council who had dropped out of the race.

The incorrect ballots were rejected by the scanners and had to be introduced through the emergency slot in the front of the voting machine to be counted manually later.

The problem affected all 10 Smithfield polling locations, said Chris Barnett, spokesman for the secretary of state.

Barnett said the Board of Elections will decide when the ballots will be counted.

The ballot misprint means the counting in Smithfield may or may not be completed tonight. Robert Kando, the state Board of Elections executive director, said officials will try to finish it tonight.

Kando said the misprinted ballots will be brought to the state Board of Elections offices in Providence tonight after polls close. Then officials will copy the information each voter put on the misprinted ballots onto the new correctly printed ballots. Then the new ballots will be run through the machine and added to the total.

Barnett said the ballots had been revised after Democratic council hopeful Richard A. DiIorio dropped out, but the printing company hired by the state mistakenly used the earlier proof that included the candidate's name.

Leaving one of the town's 10 voting locations -- the Elks Lodge on Farnum Pake -- at about 10:30 a.m., voter Charleen Christy said she had just voted with one of the new ballots, and there were no problems.

Some 300 voters had cast ballots at the Elks Lodge by 10:45 a.m.

Stay with projo.com for continuing coverage, including election results tonight. For more information, see projo.com's politics page.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Kate Bramson

Journal photo / Mary Murphy
East Providence police and fire officials wait outside the Grove Avenue Elementary School, which was being used as a polling place today, where a decontamination tent was set up in the parking lot after a white powder was found under a table in the polling area.

EAST PROVIDENCE -- Voting resumed at an East Providence polling place at about 3:30 p.m., four hours after it was closed because a suspicious substance was discovered on the floor.

Robert Kando, executive director of the state Board of Elections, said voting in that precinct has been extended to 10 p.m. -- an hour after closing time elsewhere in the state -- to allow voters to cast their ballots.

But the later closing for the polling place means that returns for the Senate and House districts in which it falls will be partial until the polling place's results are tallied. Kando said he expected the polling place will be finished tonight.

The poll at Grove Avenue Elementary School was closed at about 11:30 a.m. when a poll worker discovered a white substance on the floor, touched it and developed a rash, Maryann Callahan, canvassing authority administrator, said earlier this afternoon.

The worker was taken to a hospital.

Hazardous materials teams and decontamination teams rushed to the building.

About 12 people, mostly election workers but also a few voters who were inside the building when the substance was found, were detained for more than three hours near the buildling while officials tested the substance.

East Providence Fire Chief Joseph Klucznik late this afternoon said, "By a process of elimination, it didn't appear to be anything that hazardous."

He said officials have not determined what the "greyish, glassy, fibrous" substance is, but said it resembles insulation.

Klucznik said tests have shown it is not biological or radioactive. He said the substance is being taken for further testing at a laboratory at the University of Rhode Island.

With the poll closed since about 11:30 a.m., some voters were waiting outside this afternoon and growing frustrated.

Scott Spelman went to cast his vote at Grove Avenue Elementary School at 1 p.m., but he was still waiting across the street as of about 3 p.m.

Public safety officials had cordoned off the area and set up a decontamination unit at the school, but little information was being offered to would-be voters.

Spelman went to City Hall to see if somebody there had answers.

"They said, 'We can't help you,' so I've been standing here waiting for everybody to pack up and go home," Spelman said.

Rachel Emmett, 64, doesn't have a car, so she walked about 25 minutes to the polling place. She arrived at about 1:30 p.m. She said she didn't want to walk back and wait in line.

The poll is located in a Montessori school, which had been closed for voting.

About 324 people had voted before the substance was discovered. Within the first 10 minutes of the poll's reopening, 16 more had voted.

Stay with projo.com for continuing reports, including results after polls close. For more information, check projo.com's elections page.

-- With reports from projo.com staff writers Kate Bramson, Maria Armental and Bruce Landis

Journal photo / Bob Thayer
The Jefferson family of Cranston asked a passerby to take a photo on "this historic occasion" when the children were taken to the Arlington Manor polling location, off Cranston Street, to see what voting was all about. Carl and Tamica Jefferson, upper left and right, posed with their children, Niamiah, age 6, in green, and Carl J. Jefferson, age 4, in orange, and Carl's cousin Syriis (Jefferson), age 4, of Pawtucket.

The Little Falls Bakery and Café in Pawtuxet Village bustled this morning with cheerful voters seeking a jolt of free caffeine as a reward for performing their civic duty.

"We're brewing like there's no tomorrow," quipped one woman, as she refilled coffee pots. Added another worker, "It's been non-stop since 7 a.m."

The small, neighborhood café near the Cranston-Warwick line, adorned with paintings by local artists and a bulletin board bearing community announcements, also served as a makeshift campaign headquarters for Sage Bauer and David Margolius, who are volunteering for two local Democratic legislators.

Camped in red armchairs by the window with cell phones and laptops with campaign stickers, Bauer and Margolius were calling lists of registered voters in a final push to get out the vote for state Sen. Joshua Miller and Rep. Arthur Handy.

"We're hearing that turnout is amazing," said Bauer. "People are telling me that there are lines everywhere. One person was bumped back and forth between polling places and waited 30 minutes in line three different times to vote. That's inspirational."

Margolius, a third-year medical student at Brown University, kept an on-line database on his computer that allowed him to tell voters where their polling place was, and to offer them rides, if necessary.

Bauer said she was waiting to be relieved so that she could go vote in North Providence, where she lives. But Margolius didn't have to worry -- he voted a few weeks ago by absentee ballot, in his native state of Ohio. He pulled up his white sweater to reveal a Cleveland Browns T-shirt, a good-luck token, he hopes, for a Barack Obama victory in a pivotal battleground state.

Bauer and Margolius reflected on the nature of the Electoral College, which means that a vote for Democrat Obama in traditionally red Ohio could prove more potent than a vote for Obama in Rhode Island, one of the bluest of states.

"Friends tell me that if we lose the election, they're moving to Canada,'' said Margolius. "I tell them, 'No, move to Ohio.'"

And if the winters are too cold there, quipped Baeur, move