Cranston Voters Line Up To Cast Ballots, As Early Voting Begins In Rhode Island

Voters wait outside Cranston City Hall Wednesday morning. (Sofia Rudin/The Public’s Radio)

When the city’s registrar arrived at 7:30 Wednesday morning, there were already a few voters waiting outside. By the time he opened the doors an hour later, the line had grown by at least a dozen people.

“It’s a nice day to vote. You gotta beat the rush,” said Alexander Amalfitano, who was near the head of the line with his wife and son, ready to cast his vote to re-elect President Donald Trump.

“Four more years. He’s a man of his own word. I think so. A lot of people disagree. Hey, you vote for who you want to vote for.”

He and many others in line said voting in person, rather than by mail ballot, gave them some peace of mind.

“I want to make sure my vote gets counted,” Amalfitano commented.

“I just want to make sure my vote is heard,” echoed fellow Cranston voter Joe Campopiano. “The way they’ve been doing the mail service, the mail-in ballots, I wasn’t taking a chance with that. I just need to make sure my vote counts.

Campopiano said he came to vote early because of dueling concerns. With the Trump administration threatening cuts to the postal service, he worried about the reliability of sending his ballot by mail. And he said his mother has cancer, and he’s trying to avoid catching the coronavirus and potentially infecting her.

“You know, the way it’s spreading, I just wanted to make sure that I got here early, got my vote in. Just in case something happened too with her — God forbid — with what’s going on,” he added.

Read the rest of this story at The Public’s Radio’s website.