Town Picks Later Special Election Date to Avoid Holiday Overlap

The East Greenwich Town Council has settled on Jan. 5 of 2016 to be the date of a special election to fill a vacancy on the East Greenwich School Committee.

The decision came after a thoughtful discussion about how to maximize voter participation with two potential election dates proposed by the state Board of Elections — Dec. 29 and Jan. 5 —both landing in or around the holidays.

Town officials have been planning for a special election this winter to replace School Committee Member Clark Smith, who resigned his seat after taking a job in another state.

Jerry Holmquist, chairman of the East Greenwich Board of Canvassers, told the council that the ideal date would be Dec. 29 because it would land during school vacation week. State law requires the town to open all five polling places for the election, even though it’s a special election. Choosing school vacation week would mean not dealing with complications associated with voters streaming through school buildings used as polling places while school is in session.

Holmquist said it would be a “tremendous benefit not only for the safety of children but for the ability of voters to find a parking space.”

But council members said many people would be out of town or busy with holiday activities, which means the typically low turnout for special elections would likely be even lower, though some people may choose to fill out an absentee ballot.

The issue is that either date picked by the town for the election results in a subsequent election calendar. The sooner the election, the sooner the deadlines for candidates to file candidacy paperwork and for voters to register for absentee ballots, council members noted. And if the council chose the Dec. 29 election date, the primary would be on Nov. 23, just a few days before Thanksgiving.

Town Council President Michael Isaacs said “to have an election between Christmas and New Years, which also sets up a primary the week of Thanksgiving” is a major concern.

Councilman Bill Stone said he shared similar concerns, mainly because the goal should be give residents ample opportunity to cast votes. Picking election dates landing on holiday weeks might suggest that “we don’t want people to vote.”

“It’s an important position and we want people to have a meaningful ability to participate,” Stone said.

But, he asked, ”if we’re set for the fifth and we get a blizzard that day, what’s the snow date?”

“That’s up to the Board of Elections,” said Elaine Vespia, clerk of the Board of Canvassers.

With the Jan. 5 date, voters will be entering school buildings during the school day — and that won’t be a major problem, said Superintendent Victor Mercurio.

The superintendent said that the only place where students would be potentially encountering voter traffic would be at Frenchtown Elementary. Voters must go through the cafeteria to reach the polls by the gym and there will have to be a police detail.

“We can’t close the cafeteria for the day,” Mercurio said.

At the high school, the lower gym is “completely isolated” and at Archie R. Cole Middle School, voters will be able to go through a side door to get to the gym to avoid the cafeteria, Mercurio said.