A slow day at the polls across Newport County, but for one voter it was a big moment

By 9:25 Tuesday morning just 22 people had cast ballots at the three precincts voting at Middletown’s Gaudet Middle School but despite the slow trickle of voters, one stood out.

With the gym empty besides those working the polls, Evelin Reyes walked into the room accompanied by a friend who proudly proclaimed it was the first time Reyes, who became a U.S. citizen in September, was voting. Suddenly the quiet room erupted in applause from the dozen poll workers.

As clerks took her through the process, first checking her in and showing her the ballot, then pointing her toward the tabulation machine where she cast her ballot, a buzz filled the room that had previously been missing.

"I think one of the most important things you can do is vote in an election,” Reyes said, smiling after seeing her ballot disappear into the machine. “And my friend encouraged me a lot.”

Reyes declined to say who she voted for.

While Tuesday's Presidential Preference Primary was a fairly quiet affair across Rhode Island, the slow pace of the day worked in Reyes' favor ahead of the much busier elections that will take place in September and November.

"Honestly, because this is my first time voting I wanted to come in preparation for later this year," Reyes said, explaining why she wanted to vote Tuesday.

Similar to Gaudet Middle School polling places on Aquidneck Island, much like elsewhere in the state, were quieter than usual during the Presidential Preference Primary this Tuesday.

Despite the low turnout meeting the expectations of many for this specific election day, the consolidated polling locations across the island were fully staffed and taking advantage of the slow flow of voters, whether to train new workers or to pilot new programs altogether.

Newport uses low turnout to prepare for September, November elections

The City of Newport consolidated its number of polling locations to one per city ward. At Donovan Manor in the city’s Second Ward, veteran poll warden Gene Thompson-Grove said voting had been expectantly slow Tuesday morning, with just 30 voters over the course of two hours.

“We’re encouraging people to take a sticker and wear them to Stop & Shop or Shaw's or wherever they’re going,” Thompson-Grove said. “The two presidential candidates are pretty much set, so it's really committed voters who really understand the value of voting and having their voice heard that are here.”

The low turnout had a silver lining, however, as the fully staffed polling location has been learning and growing as a team in preparation for September and November, which Thompson-Grove expects to be very different in terms of turnout.

“We won’t necessarily all be together in September, but for the folks for whom this is new, it's still a really good experience and it's given us some time to talk as a team about ‘What if this happens, what if this happens,’ where, if you have people lined up and clicking through, you can barely get a break,” Thompson-Grove said. “We know what we were signing up for, we know that turnout is variable, you don’t know what is going to happen, but I do feel like we’re getting ready for September and November.”

The mood was similar at the Newport Public Library as voters trickled in to cast their ballots with just 22 people casting ballots by 10:25 a.m. Poll workers said, that while slow, it would serve as a good exercise for the state primary in September and the General Election in November.

"It's been a little quiet," poll warden Meredith LeBlanc said.

Slow going in Middletown

In Middletown, Moderator Mike Taylor faced a similarly low turnout, which he also expected.

“For this one, it’s about what I expected, and part of that has to do with what’s been out in the media, about how there’s the presumed candidate on one side and the presumed candidate on the other because most everybody else has dropped out,” Taylor said. “That means some people don’t feel like they need to go vote, but there are still others who feel the need to exercise their right to go vote and we’re here for them.”

Taylor, a poll worker of eight years, was stationed at Middletown High School, where he described the flow of voters as steady but low. Like Thompson-Grove in neighboring Newport, Taylor said he expects a larger number of voters to show up for the statewide primary and general elections as there are more issues to decide on those ballots.

Portsmouth pilots new paper ballots for the state

Although turnout was also slow in Portsmouth, the town usually has a higher-than-average voter turnout for elections. By noon on Tuesday, the town outpaced its more populated Aquidneck Island neighbors by number of voters alone with 589 total votes cast versus 531 and 398 for Newport and Middletown, respectively. Portsmouth High School polling location moderator Heather Sullivan said this may be why the town was chosen as the sole municipality to pilot a new paper ballot system that could help speed up the counting process for poll workers on Election Day.

“We really pride ourselves in Portsmouth where we’re picked to be a lot of the pilot programs because we have such a good showing not only from our voters but from our volunteers who come in and our greeters,” Sullivan said.

Each ballot is numbered, allowing the poll workers to more easily identify the number of votes cast. The new paper ballots come in a pad of paper, similar to a legal pad or traditional checkbook, from which the perforated ballots can be removed and given to the voter.

Sullivan, who is tasked with helping to fill out a report on the system and delivering it to the state Board of Elections by the end of the night, said the system has so far been very helpful.

“So far, I really like it, the supervisors seem to enjoy it, it seems like it's a little easier for them,” Sullivan said. “When you think about it, when you look back historically, it's always raining on Election Day, primary elections, so it gets really humid, especially in this gym. We were having problems where the ballots were sticking together, so this makes it so much easier.”

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Election Day in Newport County: Slow day, first-time voter mark turnout