Voters check in to vote at George Hanaford School in East Greenwich on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Laura Paton/Rhode Island Current)
Nearly 66% of Rhode Island’s registered voters cast ballots in the Nov. 5 election, with the highest turnout in 16 years, according to certified results approved by the Rhode Island Board of Elections on Friday.
The board’s 5-0 vote followed a report presented by Miguel Nunez, executive director for the elections board.
More than 517,199 Rhode Islanders cast ballots in the 2024 election, which included presidential, state, and local races, along with ballot questions. Turnout slightly surpassed 2020, when 64% of registered voters participated in the election. In 2016, turnout fell just shy of 60%.
In 2008, the recent peak for voter turnout, 68% of voters participated.
The 2024 elections saw Rhode Island voters embrace early, in-person voting. One-third of ballots cast were during designated, early voting at polling places statewide — the highest share since the state began offering the option during the pandemic in 2020. Over half, 56%, of voters cast ballots in-person on Election Day, while 11% submitted mail ballots.
While still a new phenomenon in Rhode Island, only formally codified in law in 2022, early, in-person voting continues to grow in popularity, rising 13 percentage points from the 2022 general election. Mail ballots also increased slightly compared with 2022, from 9% to 11% of ballots cast.
However, voters aren’t as likely to actually put their mail ballot in the mail as two years ago. In 2022, nearly three-quarters of mail ballots were sent in through the United States Postal Service, while 20% were turned into board-certified drop boxes. This year, drop boxes became more popular, used by nearly 40% of voters who filled out mail ballots. Mail ballots received through USPS fell by 12 percentage points compared with 2022.
Of the 156 mail ballots initially flagged due to signature mismatches or other errors, 67 were fixed by the voters who made the errors by the certification deadline.
Rhode Island is not among the 23 states that offer same-day voter registration; however, it’s the only state that lets unregistered voters vote for president and vice president if they show up at certain, designated polling places on Election Day. More than 9,000 people took advantage of their option to cast ballots in the top-of-the-ticket race on Nov. 5.
The final, certified results include seven state and local races for which recounts were conducted on Nov. 14 and 15. In all cases, the recounts affirmed the leading candidates as winners.
The board also separately approved results of a risk-limiting audit conducted Nov. 19 and 20, in which a sample of randomly selected ballots cast in the presidential race and one state legislative contest were reviewed to confirm the accuracy of voting equipment and ballot counting.
Board members Diane Mederos and Marcela Betancur were absent from Friday’s meeting.
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