By Janine L. Weisman | Editor-in-Chief
Good Tuesday morning!
The big day is here. Polls open at 7 a.m. for Election Day across Rhode Island, except in New Shoreham where they open at 9. Polls close at 8 p.m. If you are already in line at your polling location at 8 p.m., you will be allowed to vote.
Check out our Voter Guide if you’re still searching for information on the candidates, the bond issues and how to look up your polling site.
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High tide in Westerly is at 4:17 p.m. Low tide is at 10:38 a.m. and 11:07 p.m. Sunrise is at 6:21 a.m. Sunset is at 4:40 p.m.
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The Rhode Island Democratic Party will be holding its Election Night Watch Party in the 17th floor ballroom of the Graduate by Hilton Providence, a.k.a, the Biltmore, a.k.a. where my high school senior prom was.
The Rhode Island Republican Party will be watching election returns tonight at Richard’s Pub & Restaurant in East Greenwich.
A new University of New Hampshire poll shows Rhode Island’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee Helena Buonanno Foulkes, left, and Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, in the lead in their respective races. (Photos by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current)
By Nancy Lavin
Democrats look poised to sweep Rhode Island elections on Tuesday, including gubernatorial candidate Helena Buonanno Foulkes and Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, in the first election snapshot in three weeks. The University of New Hampshire survey of 753 likely voters puts Foulkes and Matos further ahead of their general election competitors compared with previous public polling, including several surveys that showed Matos in a statistical tie with her GOP opponent, John Loughlin.
Signs in English and Spanish alert voters how to cast their ballots at St. Theresa’s Church in Pawtucket during the 2024 general election. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
By Christopher Shea
Thirty federal observers are expected to be in Pawtucket Tuesday to ensure each of its polling precincts comply with a Biden-era consent order to assist Spanish-speaking voters, according to the city’s top election official. The deployment comes as the Trump administration prepares to send roughly 1,000 federal election monitors to polling places in all 50 states — the largest such effort in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice.
A voter waits to check in for early voting on the second floor of Newport City Hall on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. A total of 2,770 Newport voters had cast ballots in person by Monday, Nov. 2, at 4 p.m. (Photo by Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current)
By Nancy Lavin
A record-setting number of Rhode Island voters have cast ballots in-person during the 20-day early voting period that ended at 4 p.m. Monday, according to the Rhode Island Department of State’s live voter turnout tracker. The 111,901 people who voted at designated early voting polling places by the end of early voting Monday is more than double the early voting turnout from two years ago.
By Rhode Island Current Staff
The candidates, the issues, and what you need to know to cast your ballot and be part of our democratic process.
King County, Washington, election workers dump out a bin full of ballots from a local drop box to sort ahead of the midterm election on Oct. 29, 2026, in Renton, Washington. (Photo by Jake Goldstein-Street/Washington State Standard)
By Ashley Murray and Jonathan Shorman
When the polls close Tuesday night, the 2026 U.S. election will go down as one of history’s most expensive and extraordinarily ugly midterms — galvanizing record-breaking early voter turnout among a deeply divided electorate.
ICYMI
US Supreme Court rejects Trump DOJ’s attempt to freeze California vote counting | Jonathan Shorman, D.C. Bureau
COMMENTARY: What price political influence? A lot more in Rhode Island. | Robert T.F. Downes
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