RI elections board rejects Pelino’s recount request in Republican gubernatorial primary

The close contest between Rhode Island’s Republican gubernatorial primary is not close enough to justify a manual refeeding of every ballot into a tabulating machine, the Board of Elections determined Monday.

The unanimous vote by the election panel came after an hourlong back-and-forth with trailing candidate Elaine Pelino, who protested a lack of public notification and transparency by election administrators. Pelino acknowledged the 259 votes separating her from likely primary winner Aaron Guckian was slightly wider than the 231-vote margin needed to justify a recount under state law. 

But the determination does not cement Guckian as the GOP nominee. The margin is still close enough to allow election administrators to cross-check the memory sticks from ballot machines against the final tally.

Pelino seeks recount in close GOP gubernatorial primary

Pelino, 72, of North Smithfield, insisted the elections board should recount every ballot, rattling off a litany of problems with meeting notice requirements and details of how election administrators counted ballots.

The information Pelino presented during her 30-minute soliloquy Monday afternoon did not show any evidence of election impropriety — the only way the elections panel can agree to a recount when the race is not close enough to justify a recount based on the margin of victory.  

“These are more arguments than actual evidence, there’s no evidence,” board member David Sholes told Pelino, who was accompanied by 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee Ashely Kalus.

Election administrators defended the transparency of the ballot counting process, which includes public notice and observation of mail ballot certification, opening of envelopes and correcting of potentially deficient ballots, among other steps.

“The entire process is open to the public, it is open to the representative of a candidate, and it’s the burden of the candidate to be part of that entire process from beginning to end,” Ray Marcaccio, the board’s legal counsel said.

Marcaccio later said, “Now is the time to proffer the evidence, not to say, ‘I want to start looking to see if something suspicious was happening.’” 

Pelino, a political newcomer and proud MAGA candidate, said she did not receive any communication from the elections board regarding any element of the tabulation process, and was unaware of it happening.

“Noted, and heard, and this information is also publicly available,” Chairwoman Jennie Johnson told Pelino. 

In her final plea to the elections board, Pelino stressed the importance of having all ballot information available to her.

“We’re just asking to look at the data,” she said, to which Johnson responded, “What data?”

Guckian, 50 of East Greenwich, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The self-described “compassionate conservative” gave what appeared to be a victory speech on the State House steps Monday afternoon, despite the pending recount request, The Providence Journal reported. 

Providence City Council primaries 

Separately, the board authorized a full recount in one Providence City Council Democratic primary. Councilor Juan Pichardo and his Democratic challenger Carmen Castillo each asked for the review after the tally showed Castillo trailing Pichardo by nine votes in the Ward 9 primary. The ward spans south Elmwood, Elmwood and Roger Williams Park. Castillo and Pichardo both attended the meeting but declined to comment when asked by the board.

A second Democratic Providence City Council primary, for the Ward 4 seat, qualified for a rereading of the memory sticks but not a full recount of every ballot. The initial tabulation shows Councilor Justin Roias beating challenger Joseph Casoli by 55 votes for the seat representing the Charles and Wanskuck neighborhoods. The margin would have needed to be no more than 29 votes to qualify for a recount.

Casoli attended the meeting but declined to comment.

Recounts and memory stick rereadings will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, and are expected to conclude by noon. The elections board will certify final results from all state primary races, including those subject to recounts, at a scheduled meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Election board members Louis DeSimone, Randy Jackvony and Michael Connors were absent from the meeting.