Rhode Island Surpasses 100,000 Early Voters

PROVIDENCE, RI — Rhode Island crossed the 100,000 voter mark Wednesday, just under a week before Election Day. To date, more than 27 percent of the state's eligible voters have cast their ballots for the Nov. 3 general election.

Both early voting and mail-in voting are underway in Rhode Island. Early voting will be available at city and town halls until Nov. 2, while voters who requested a mail ballot have until 8 p.m. on election night to return their ballot to the Board of Elections.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea encouraged any voters with mail ballots to return them via secure drop box rather than by mail, since it is too close to the election to ensure it will be received in time. Find the nearest drop box using the Secretary's online finder tool.

Voters who submitted their mail ballot can check the status online. Here's what it means if your ballot is marked as processing, accepted, deficient or disqualified, according to the Board of Elections.

• Processing: the signature is being verified
• Accepted: the signature has been verified, and the ballot has been approved for counting via the board's high-speed counter.
• Deficiency: there is an issue with the signature verification that must be corrected. Voters will be mailed a notice in this case.
• Disqualified: the ballot was received late or there was an issue that was not corrected by Nov. 10.

As of Wednesday, the board had scanned more than 123,000 mail ballots, bringing the total number of voters so far to more than 218,000.