As Rhode Islanders headed to the polls to vote in the 2024 presidential election, The Herald visited three poll locations in Providence and spoke to voters and poll workers.
Rep. Gabe Amo visits Hope High School on Election Day
U.S. Representative Gabe Amo (D-R.I. 1), who won his second term as the Representative for Rhode Island’s First Congressional District, started the day off by voting at Hope High School.
“Voting is something that we all have to participate in, and it’s always a good nudge at the end to get every single vote out and let people know that you’re voting,” Amo said about his decision to vote. “It’s a matter of public record, and it’s a matter of public responsibility.”
Paul Klinkmann has worked the polls for about 20 years. This year, he wanted to be there “just in case we had some nuts that wanted to interfere with the election.” Today, things ran smoothly, he said.
A poll worker.
There was a WiFi outage at Hope High School that led to a pile-up of ballots that had to be entered in manually after the WiFi came back on. “It took an hour to feed all of the collected leftovers,” Klinkmann said.
Hailey Santos, a 16-year-old high school student and poll worker, said the turnout was much higher than when she worked the polls for the primary elections. In September, “we didn’t get a lot of people at all,” she said. But, by 6:20 a.m today, there was already a line outside.
Santos, Klinkmann and their fellow poll workers all were at Hope High School for 15 hours.
Parents like Ellie Pavlick, an associate professor of computer science, also came to vote at Hope High School as soon as the polls opened.
Pavlick said that she likes “the ritual” of voting in person. Though Pavlick’s daughters are too young to vote, she brought them to the polls with her in hopes that “they can start to learn about the process,” she said.
For Liam Donohoe, this was his first time voting in a U.S. presidential election. “I’d had a green card for many years, and I realized two years ago that I really wanted to vote to express my opinion,” Donohoe said.
Margaret Barrows lives across the street from Hope High School. As an older individual, she found voting in person to be the easiest and most accessible way to make her voice heard.
A voter at City Hall.
City Hall redirects several voters to other polling locations
According to Michael Narducci, administrator of elections for the city of Providence, nearly 10,000 Providence residents voted early.
Almost 2,000 people casted their ballots on Monday, the last day of early voting. Terence Riess, a supervisor at the Providence City Hall polling location, described that day as “really amazing.”
“Everyone was excited to vote,” Riess added.
But at City Hall, where only 152 people registered to vote, Election Day was slower than Monday.
“Unfortunately, a lot of people are coming in as first-time, non-registered and inactive voters,” said Michelle Narducci, a poll moderator. Most of her morning had been spent redirecting people to other polling locations such as Amica Mutual Pavilion, the only polling location that is able to process same-day voter registrations.
“I just registered about a week ago, and I had no idea that I had to register almost a month before the election” to vote in state and local elections, said Camila Guerrero, a first-time voter. She had already been to three polling locations this morning to cast her vote for president and vice president.
Camila Guerrero.
For Josie Medina, voting is a step towards creating a “safe environment” for themselves and their Puerto-Rican family.
Josie Medina (left) and Iris Alvarez (right).
“My rights as a woman, as an LGBTQ member, as a nonbinary person, as a minority person” are at stake, Medina said. Because of this, Medina and their mom “feel incredibly pushed to vote.”
City Hall also marks Medina’s third polling location of the day. Like Guerrero, Medina and their family were redirected from City Hall to another polling location to cast their ballots.
According to Riess, fewer people are registered to vote at City Hall since the precinct is mostly composed of commercial and public property.
“Most of the people that are registered (in this precinct) are because of the homeless shelter here,” Riess continued.
Michelle Narducci emphasized that poll workers “don’t turn anybody away” unless they are unable to vote. Rather, they assist voters by locating appropriate documentation, providing support services and having Spanish speakers on site.
According to Michelle Narducci, some people “say that the navigation of the (voting) system is a little hard.” The best way to tackle this, she believes, is by encouraging voters to vote more to become more familiar with the process.
Voter at City Hall.
Polling location on campus was convenient for students
Situated in the Kasper Multipurpose Room, Brown’s on-campus polling location drew in students and non-students alike.
Nozomi Greimel ’27 said that she wanted to vote in person because there was a polling location on campus. Though getting to the polls was simple for Greimel, she faced some difficulties with voter registration.
Because Greimel is not from the U.S. and does not have a U.S. driver’s license, she could not register to vote in Rhode Island online. “I had to mail in my registration, which took weeks and weeks to process,” she said. “That waiting period was quite long and also rather stressful.”
Hélène Comer ’25 said that both convenience and uncertainty around the mail-in ballot process factored into her decision to vote.
Filling the ballot out “in person, putting it back and then getting an ‘I voted’ sticker is very nice and satisfying,” Comer added.
The Brown Votes stand on Brown campus.
Matthew McQuistion ’25 initially intended to vote from his home state of Oklahoma, but an unexpected issue prevented him from doing so.
“I wanted to vote in Oklahoma, but then I learned I was purged from the voter rolls … because I’m an inactive voter,” McQuistion said. “And then it turned out that I was registered to vote in Rhode Island.”
Though McQuistion also encountered a slight hiccup at the polls, Rhode Island’s same-day registration system made it easy to resolve this issue. “They just had all the stuff (so) I could sign (up) here,” he said.
Nearing the end of polling hours, poll worker Rob Adams said he chose to staff the polling station because “it’s an important election.”
“I feel like you can always do more — more than just voting,” Adams said.
He noted that the polling location faced “the normal challenges” associated with college student voting: slight errors in addresses, or recent housing moves that haven’t been accounted for in their voter registration.
Adams came to the polling station before 6 a.m. and will be leaving at 9 p.m., he said. “It’s a long day, but it’s worth it.”
The Faunce Arch on Brown campus.
Sanai Rashid was raised in Brooklyn and now lives in Long Island, New York. As an English and History concentrator, she is always looking for a way to amplify stories and histories previously unheard. When she is not writing, you can find her trying new pizza places in Providence or buying another whale stuffed animal.
Avani Ghosh is a Metro editor covering politics and justice and community and activism. She is a junior from Ohio studying Health and Human Biology and International and Public Affairs. She is an avid earl grey enthusiast and can be found making tea in her free time.
Ciara Meyer is a senior staff writer from Saratoga Springs, New York. She plans on concentrating in Statistics and English Nonfiction. In her free time, she loves scrapbooking and building lego flowers.
Megan is a Senior Staff Writer covering community and activism in Providence. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she spends her free time drinking coffee and wishing she was Meg Ryan in a Nora Ephron movie.
