« Station evidence: Next release to be 50 to 60 DVDs | Today | Cranston mayor-elect asks dept. heads to resign »

November 29, 2006

Elections official: 'The people ... should be outraged'

PROVIDENCE -- The state Board of Elections voted unanimously this afternoon to appeal a Superior Court judge's ruling that the public may inspect photocopies of rejected ballots and argue to have them counted.

Judge Stephen J. Fortunato Jr. ruled today in favor of East Providence city council candidate Joseph Larisa Jr. who sought access to rejected ballots that he says may make a difference in his race. He trails his opponent by 16 votes.

The Board of Elections held a 4 p.m. meeting following Fortunato's hearing. A board attorney had argued that public inspection of ballots would compromise the objectivity of state elections.

"The people of Rhode Island should be outraged," said board chairman Thomas V. Iannitti of Fortunato's decision. "This is the most offensive thing I’ve encountered since I’ve been here...Maybe [Fortunato] should have come down and watched the process. He doesn’t even know the process.”

An attorney for the Board of Elections will attend a Superior Court hearing tomorrow at 11 a.m. to ask Fortunato to stay his decision pending a review by the state Supreme Court. In the meantime, the board has refused to release copies of the rejected ballots in the East Providence race.

The Supreme Court already ruled that the state Board of Elections must photocopy rejected ballots, but it didn't say that such ballots could be viewed by the public.

-- Projo.com staff writer Steve Peoples with reports from Journal staff writer Alisha Pina

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 4:59 PM | Permalink

Comments

Post a comment

Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)