R.I. Board of Elections won’t remove ExpressVote machines

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Board of Elections canceled an emergency meeting scheduled for Monday morning to discuss Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza’s request to remove all ExpressVote machines during the Tuesday’s primaries.

Elorza had sent the panel a letter asking them to remove all ExpressVote machines from use during Tuesday’s primaries, following a series of errors that came to light during early voting.

The Board of Elections initially agreed it would discuss Elorza’s request during an emergency meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, but on Sunday night the board canceled the meeting and said the ExpressVote machines will still be used Tuesday.

“The request to remove all ExpressVote equipment on the eve of the primary would leave persons with disabilities with no accessible voting method, in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act,” said Robert Rapoza, executive director of the R.I. Board of Elections, in a press release.

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“While I appreciate the initial willingness of the R.I. Board of Elections to look into alternative ADA-compliant voting machines for tomorrow’s primary, I am dismayed to learn that there was no backup plan for this election,” Elorza said in response to the board’s decision to cancel the meeting. “We are hence left with the same voting machines, and the same vendor, that have caused the string of problems.”

The ExpressVote machines came at the center of controversy in the last few weeks after a series of errors were reported in the Spanish-language ballots, including the listing of wrong candidates and the misspellings of a candidate’s name. At a Sept. 7 meeting, the board addressed the mistakes and said it would implement stricter verification protocols in the future in collaboration with the Secretary of State and the machine vendor.

But Elorza still called for the removal of all ExpressVote machines in his letter, saying that the “myriad and repeated problems” with the machines led him to “question whether everything will be in order” by the primaries.

“Given the repeated problems and the fact that other, existing machines can handle the volume of voters on September 13, I believe it is prudent to remove the new ExpressVote machines and eliminate the risk of additional errors being made,” Elorza said in a Sept. 9 letter addressed to the Board of Elections and Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea.

The board’s decision to cancel the meeting came after a letter by Election Systems & Software, the voting machines’ private vendor, explained why using AutoMARK, the machines used prior to the ExpressVote ones, would not be possible on such a short notice.

“ES&S no longer manufactures or sells the AutoMARK and therefore the ability to program one is not even an option in any new software including the version currently being run in Rhode Island,” said Joe Vitale, senior account manager of ES&S in a letter to the board. “In addition, the last time we performed maintenance on those machines was in April 2020. Since then we had four statewide elections with the failure rate increasing exponentially. I believe at least one third of those machines have issues.”

Vitale explained that using the AutoMarks on Tuesday would require a lengthy setup, testing and delivery process that could take up to several days. He also pointed out that out that 35 communities have been using ExpressVote machine without reporting any issue.

Some experts agree that Elorza’s call for removal of the machines was an “overreaction.”

“As serious as the errors were, the problems have been addressed and these machines are absolutely essential for certain people with disabilities to be able to exercise their right to vote,” said Steven Brown, executive director of ACLU of Rhode Island.

Elorza said “the Secretary of State and Board of Elections teams should have submitted legislation that outlined roles and responsibilities for each step of the process,” but he hopes to see this legislation in the future.

“I hope the state will emphasize the need for every poll worker to be trained on how to guide voters through using these machines in advance of Tuesday’s primary election to avoid any further issues,” Elorza said.

The board said it plans to meet “in the near future” to discuss the ExpressVote machines and to receive a report on the machines’ use during the primary.

“Of course, if other circumstances develop on any matter involving the election process in the State of Rhode Island, the Board is prepared to meet and address any such issue that may arise,” Rapoza said.

Claudia Chiappa is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Chiappa@PBN.com.