America ReFramed

ROB ROCK: We have to do what we can in the most important election of our lifetime to make sure that people can vote.

NATASHA DEL TORO: In 2020, election officials faced unprecedented challenges.

ROCK: There are gonna be machines that break down.

There are gonna be poll workers that don't show up.

DEL TORO: An unfiltered look at the inner workings of American democracy.

Polls are open, it's official.

DEL TORO: "No Time to Fail," on America ReFramed.

CROWD: Four, three, two, one!

BOY: Come on!

(crowd cheers) (birds chirping, bowstring stretching) (bowstring releases) WOMAN: Ow.

(arrow thuds, woman clears throat) (machine whirring) (whirring stops) (traffic humming) (phone ringing) MADONNA: Hi, Victor, it's Maria Madonna calling from the Cranston Board of Canvassers.

I'm calling because I have poll workers at Dutemple School and they called to say that it wasn't opened yet.

Just calling to remind you that... NICK LIMA: Hey, listen, I need a truck.

A machine was dropped off at the wrong location, at the Portuguese Club.

We gotta get that machine to Templo Bblico behind City Hall.

I mean, if we gotta get a police escort for it, I don't care what we gotta do, but we gotta get a truck, like, now.

MADONNA: Good morning, good morning.

All right, this is your stuff.

Here's your keys.

WOMAN: Okay.

MADONNA: Okay?

WOMAN: 719, yep.

MADONNA: You should be all set.

You should have everybody there-- nobody called out.

LIMA: They're gonna pick up that machine and drive it over to the Legion.

Would it be possible to have a patrol officer head over to the Portuguese Club and wait for that van to show up and then escort them over to the Legion?

MADONNA: So Waterman's gonna be short two supervisors and then there's...

Okay, lost... Orchard Farm lost... - Orchard Farm was gonna have two moderators... - And they do have-- no, no, they do have the two moderators, one clerk.

- Oh, they lost one clerk.

- That's it so far.

That's it.

(telephone ringing) Canvassing, Maria Madonna.

Where are you "here"?

You need to be here to pick up your supplies.

Okay, all right, come on in.

Bye.

(groans) (telephone ringing) All right, Terry, you are giving me a heart attack.

TERRY: Oh, no, I didn't...

I wouldn't miss this.

MADONNA: I know.

You need to be at your school for 6: 00.

TERRY: Oh, boy.

MADONNA: "Oh, boy."

This is good.

Okay, 'cause it's not 6:00 yet.

(murmuring): "Good morning, sorry, we woke up late."

I don't care, just get here.

"Woke up not feeling so well, I don't think it's safe for me to come in, my apologies."

All right, we're in trouble.

Oh, my God, oh, my God, this guy is gonna freak.

323... Okay, listen to me, okay?

Can I have you report to City Hall right now?

You're gonna have to pick up the supplies.

Your other moderator just text me saying he won't be coming; he woke up sick.

You're gonna be the only moderator there.

I have the faith in you.

You are going to be great.

All right, so what you're going to... LIMA: There's a lot of pressure for us in any election, but it's just magnified so much now.

As elections officials, we've gotta figure out a way to make it work, in the conditions that we're facing, and still succeed in the end, because we can't fail.

Elections cannot fail.

We can't fail the voters.

RADIO ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's that season again-- it's election season.

NEWSCASTER: For Rhode Island voters, the election taking shape much differently than we're used to seeing.

NEWSCASTER: This election is like no other we have seen in our history.

JOHN DICKERSON: The stakes are so high and the president has been encouraging his supporters to believe that the democratic system of elections is rigged.

When you see shenanigans, please report it to your authorities, okay?

The real authorities-- they're watching.

NEWSCASTER: The future of elections themselves may be up in the air as the coronavirus outbreak spreads and more states enforce social distancing.

What does this mean for the election as we look ahead?

NEWSCASTER: Officials say changes to the election process are necessary in the coronavirus pandemic.

GORBEA: My office will be sending all active registered voters a mail ballot application because a viable vote-by-mail system is going to ensure that voters don't have to choose between their health and their constitutional right to vote.

BOB RAPOZA: Board members, we are projecting upwards to 400,000 mail ballots.

I believe we will be here when the snow flies, possibly still counting ballots in January, because 400,000 is a tremendous undertaking.

NEWCASTER: What happens this fall will take place in the midst of the most polarize political climate in a century.

NEWSCASTER: When the commander-in-chief spreads bogus fears about voter fraud, it's a truth emergency on top of a public health emergency.

(machine whirring) (whirring stops) (cellphone calling out) ROCK: Hey, I'm in the car, so I couldn't, couldn't read your text message.

MAN (on phone): Okay, a reporter is just asking, on a personal level, she says, "Hey, my mom moved t Rhode Island, like, last week.

"Should she vote from Rhode Island or should she vote from her old Massachusetts address?"

No, she should, she lives in Rhode Island, she should vote from Rhode Island.

ROCK: I have worked in elections for almost my entire professional career.

I do love what I do.

You get involved in it, and you just want to do a good job, but we've never had an election like this.

What we've done before is not gonna cut it this time.

MAN: How early will people be getting here?

ROCK: I worked it out with the post office that I'm probably gonna pick up the mail at about 7:30 in the morning and I'll probably bring it right here.

Yeah, Jess, that works right?

JESSICA CIGNA: Yeah, that's great.

ROCK: We're good on space, right?

CIGNA: Right-- we're gonna need four, no, five stations.

Applications come in and then they go to the envelope-opening stations, and then that from there goes to the sorting stations, and then from there goes to bundling.

- And then there's the, if I'm not mistaken, the locked rooms, as well?

MAN: Well, we're gonna...

I wanted to talk to you about that.

- Okay.

- I mean, how much space do you need at night to lock stuff up?

- We're hoping, we're hoping none.

- Okay.

- To be honest with you.

But I think we should probably plan for, you know, just, just boxes.

- So, are you gonna be sorting the ballots that are going out or you're gonna be sorting the ballots that are coming... - There are no ballots.

- No ballots.

- It's just applications.

- Oh, it's just applications, okay.

- Correct, yeah, so, we're gonna be sorting the, opening and sorting the applications into, you know, different piles, and then we're shipping them to our office where they're gonna be scanned in.

There are no ballots coming through here.

- Okay, all right, so that's good.

- Yep-- yep.

We've never sent applications to everybody, but we have to do what we can in the most important election of our lifetime to make sure that people can vote, and with this pandemic, the best way to do it is by mail.

But I am nervous, 'cause any issue in any part of the process is gonna just bring the whole house down.

(telephones ringing) MADONNA: Hi, my name's Maria Madonna.

I'm calling from the Cranston Board of Canvassers.

And that one's all set.

- Did you get that one?

- Yup.

- Thank you.

MADONNA: ...if you might be interested in working at the polls for the upcoming elections?

Yes, you can.

Yeah, the state mailed them out then.

MAN: They mailed that one.

- Yeah, the General Assembly didn't wanna mail them out for the primary.

Right, so I'm gonna put that in the mail for you today.

I'm gonna give you a postage-paid returnable envelope, as well.

TERRI BUCCI: It's regarding your mail ballot application.

Yes, yep.

And you can drop that here off, drop that off here at City Hall, or the Board of Elections is on Plainfield Pike, but it looks like we're probably closer to you.

Yeah, we'll have a box there that will collect them.

Okay?

You're welcome-- bye.

(people talking, telephone ringing in background) (on computer): Again, for anything tech-related, we're gonna have you guys go through me for that.

So again, my number is (muted)... You know, the plan was that me, Maria, and Terri all watching this.

Plan's not working.

No, not when people are coming in left and right.

We're probably the busiest department in the building right now.

MAN (on computer): So, any problem whatsoever, no matter how big or small, just let me know, whether it's iPads... LIMA: A lot of it is the stuff we know about opening and closing the DS200 and how it works, but there's other little stuff that was thrown in with it.

I think it's gonna be a lot, like, on the go, as we learn, and everything else.

I know you said before you wanted to try to get a couple of poll workers in here.

I think we should really sit down to see if that's what we really want to do.

- We gotta figure it out fast.

- We are going to be overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed.

(telephone ringing) Let me, let me get in touch with the secretary of state and see what happens, and I will give you a call back.

LIMA: We got these keys.

So we have to use them to access the system.

Basically, it's plugged in like a USB drive would, and it's just an additional code.

So we have to be physically present here to enter this code in order to access the voting system.

I have to go to the secretary of state's office in a little bit and pick up three more of those keys for the other staff that are gonna help us process mail ballots.

We're pulling staff from four different departments to get us going with mail ballots so we don't fall behind on that.

So that, during the day, we can continue to focus on other stuff.

(telephone ringing) I don't even know-- I have no idea.

I have no idea where I even am right now.

(sirens blaring in distance) KATHY PLACENCIA: I just need good, reliable people that can follow direction.

WOMAN (on phone): Yeah, they're pretty educated.

PLACENCIA: Education and following direction are two different things.

Sometimes the smartest people don't have common sense.

(both laugh) So Kim is out.

Oh, (muted), don't tell me, her?

- Yep.

- Oh, (muted), okay.

So yeah, 'cause I just need to go over some stuff that... With this election, I just wanna make sure that everybody's gonna be all set and that these places are set up properly.

The thing is, I need more people than I did for the primary.

I have twice the amount of locations.

This is the election, so I just, I want to make sure that they're set up properly because there's gonna be people all over my (muted) on these locations.

Any little thing, they're gonna, they're gonna be calling me.

(sighs) Yeah, yeah.

As long as they're able to just follow direction and they can look at the diagram and make sense out of it.

Yeah, mm-hmm.

Okay.

(chuckling): Okay, bye-bye.

(muted), I lost a polling place.

Lost St. Pius Church.

It's, like, I don't understand.

(sighs): Who am I calling?

(sighs heavily) SOFIA (on phone): Hi.

PLACENCIA: Hello, my beautiful princess.

- Hi.

- Did you finish your homework?

- Yep.

- Good job.

- It took me five minutes.

- Five minutes?

Whoa.

- But it really took me half an hour.

- Oh.

- 'Cause I had to go poop for, like, 25 minutes.

(both laugh) - Did you read?

- No.

- Hm... - I'm just gonna do it when you get home.

- No, you're not gonna do it when I get home, 'cause I don't know when I'm gonna be home.

So can you do me a favor?

- Okay.

- Can you set your timer for 15 minutes and can you read for 15 minutes?

- Yeah.

- Okay, bye.

It's so funny.

It's, like, these people are, like, "Well, this one has a degree and this other one's a scientist."

I don't give a (muted).

Do they know how to follow directions?

(machine whirring) (people talking in background) ROCK: The opening and sorting is going awesome.

The Guard is ripping through them.

I mean, they're doing, like, 15,000 in, like, three hours.

Yep, thank you.

All right, okay.

Bye-bye.

People are passionate, man, I tell ya.

So these are mail ballot applications that have come back from voters, basically saying that they are not gonna be voting by mail.

Like this one here, you know, "No mail ballot, be American, go to the polls."

I'm not sure what being American has to do with going to the polls as opposed to voting by mail.

But, um, "I will vote at the polls, eat (muted)"-- that's a good one.

That's a nice... And they have their names on them, too, which is pretty cool.

"I will crawl before I mail in my vote," which is an interesting image.

"The end is near."

Here's a good one, "The end is near, seek the truth while it may be found, it is written."

So, the end is near, according to Mr. (muted) from Cranston.

Not sure why people get so upset about the mail ballots, but the reason why we do this is that people can have those opinions.

WALT BUTEAU: COVID-19 concerns made it easier to cast mail ballots to reduce crowds at polling places, but critics say that could open the door to fraud.

NEWSCASTER: Behind in the polls and seeming more and more frustrated about it, Trump now claims because of mail-in voting, the results may never be known.

If I see tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, I can't go along with that.

And I'll tell you what, from a common sense... CHRIS WALLACE: And what does that mean, "not go along"?

Does that mean you're gonna tell your people to take to the street?

- I'll tell you what it means.

It means you have a fraudulent election.

You're sending out 80 million ballots... WALLACE: And what are you gonna do about that?

- They're not equipped to...

These people aren't equipped to handle it.

Number one-- number two, they cheat.

They cheat.

ALBERTO DE BURGO: The thing is, you missed the deadline anyway.

So, what... (man talking softly) So what you can do, fill this out.

- Okay.

- So you just need to put your... SONIA GRACE: I've been looking at statewide numbers, and we know Central Falls has always had one of the highest, and it's gotten worse.

We should really... Well, we need to decide... Maybe later today, we'll talk about the, the training.

Once we get those things done for...

So, okay, so today is really poll workers, right?

Poll workers and supply list?

DE BURGO: Yep.

Primarily, yep.

GRACE: Is there any way to have people tested?

Our numbers in Rhode Island are so insane right now.

DE BURGO: Yeah, like, I was talking to the city.

Nationally, we're amongst the... GRACE: Right?

I mean, it's just, it's just everywhere.

DE BURGO: My concern is, if someone comes up positive, now we're scrambling to replace that person.

GRACE: Well, no matter what, they, I mean, I'd rather know... DE BURGO: Yeah.

GRACE: The workers...

I'm more concerned about the workers who have to sit together for the 12 hours, right?

DE BURGO: So... GRACE: Right?

Other than... DE BURGO: Once we decide who we're hiring, I think we should ask them if they're willing to get tested, and kind of leave it up to them, I guess.

GRACE: I don't know-- I don't know, this is... DE BURGO: Some might be willing to... GRACE: This whole week has been insane.

And I don't see it getting any better, and so, if there's gonna be any restrictions coming out, what does that mean for November 3?

STEVE TAYLOR: 3525.

Regular precinct, we've got two stacks, 1,400.

3521, 1,400 ballots.

Seventy-seven.

This is going to the first box, which is 701 Cranston.

(machine beeping) (device clicks, beeping stops) JACOB GANSERT: All right, all my new people.

If you want to come over here, I'm gonna do a quick in-person demo for everybody.

All right, so, this is the DS200.

This is what actually counts all of the ballots on Election Day.

All the voters must feed ballots through this machine in order for them to be counted.

So this is the most important piece of equipment in the polling place on Election Day.

If it breaks at any point, this is your top priority.

You must fix this as soon as possible, because otherwise, people can't cast their ballot and it's gonna cause problems.

Everything else is subordinate to this.

ROCK (singing to recording): Tell her I'm in Mobile Alabama Watching... on my feet The political junkie side of me likes to go around and, like, look at all the political signs.

Like, see, there's a political sign right there.

Thomas Paolino, who's running for State Senate.

I actually spoke with him the other day.

You just drove by one for the current mayor of North Providence, who's running unopposed, I believe.

I always love when you see signs for candidates running against each other on the same lawn.

Those voters don't want to pick sides.

(singing to recording): It'll be all right again My biggest fear as an elections administrator is to have made a ballot where we didn't include a candidate or messed something up.

So I kind of do it so that I hope that I'll recognize a name when I see it in various parts of the state, and if I don't recognize it, I have my computer with me where I'll pull up all the sample ballots to make sure that the candidate is actually on the ballot.

One of the most favorite parts of my job is the fact that I've got to see so much of the state.

Like, I love knowing Rhode Island as well as I do.

Because we're so small, I think it's, it's, like, a microcosm of the country.

You've got, you know, the city like Providence, but then you've got these rural sections where, you know, people have farms, and, like, the demographics tend to be more conservative, and, and, you know, while Rhode Island is looked at as a blue state, I bet you'd be surprised that there's a lot more red than you think.

ROCK: This week, we've obviously sent more mail ballots than we ever have.

It's gonna be at least 90,000.

It could be as high as 120,000.

(machine whirring) NEWSCASTER: With so many voting by mail this year due to the pandemic, the Rhode Island Board of Elections says they're working through a bit of a backlog.

New warnings from the U.S.

Postal Service are coming to light today, suggesting that it will not be able to deliver all mail-in ballots in time to be counted for the election.

That message came in letters sent to state officials around the country, and it raised the prospect of even bigger problems for November.

(traffic humming, telephone ringing) - Canvassing, this is Emerson, how may I help you?

What kind of security?

Well, nobody's gonna steal your mom's ballot.

LIMA: Yeah, we're gonna have a drop box out front.

It's gonna be open 24 hours.

MAN (on phone): Okay, thank you.

- Have a great day.

MAN: You, too.

- Bye-bye.

(replaces receiver) I can already see one problem here.

This person didn't sign the application.

So that's gonna be a rejection.

Most of them are pretty straightforward.

That one's not a match.

I see the T and I see a little bit of the G, but I gotta look that one up.

EMERSON BRITO: We do.

Security cameras.

It's pretty safe.

Well, no one's gonna steal your ballot on the box.

(telephone ringing) Hi, can I help you?

Somebody just called.

The box out front is too full.

MADONNA: We're gonna, like I told those people, we're gonna need two boxes.

Uh-oh, we're gonna need more than two.

BRITO: You can come inside the office and drop it off in here, because if you don't trust, that's something different, okay?

BUCCI: We had to empty that once already.

They need to send us two at a time because someone called and said, "The big drop box out front is full, we can't get our ballots in," which wasn't true, there was still a little bit of space.

LIMA: Yeah.

Looking to see if anybody's tweeted or anything about our ballot drop box being full.

That bothers me that someone would immediately go to the press about something like that.

People can say what they want, they want...

If they're looking for something to complain about, they're gonna make it up or they're gonna, you know, they're gonna be blind to it, and then say that, say something that's just not true.

"Well, the drop box was full."

Literally, there's...

There are things that are within our control and not in our control.

That's something that's not in our control, but... At the same time, I don't want disinformation to be out there, because the last thing we need now are people to start distrusting the drop box, and that'll be another thing we have to deal with.

(telephone ringing) ROCK: We've seen a huge drop-off for applications.

We thought that things were gonna be ramping up as time goes on, where I now think that we're gonna see it plateau out.

- Right, because that was the question: is it gonna be a mail ballot... - Well, I think... - Is it gonna be a in-person... - Right now, we're at, about 100,000 people have requested a mail ballot.

We originally were thinking somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 mail ballot applications, but I think with all that's going on with the post office, and the fact that we've got the early voting, people are more likely to do that.

(telephones ringing in background) ROCK: Elections, this is Rob.

Was it for president?

You filled the-- okay.

I just wanna make sure I understand, 'cause certain mistakes, we don't need to send you another ballot, but if you made the wrong choice for president, then we obviously have to send you one.

What's the address?

You got that upset at who you chose, huh?

Got it, okay, so we've got a copy.

Um... (telephone ringing in background) Okay, and, all right, we're gonna send you another ballot tonight, you should have it by Saturday.

You're welcome.

(replaces receiver) (sniffs) She made the wrong choice for president, and got so upset at who she chose, that she ripped up the ballot.

It's just...

It's amazing.

(telephone ringing) Elections, this is Rob.

MAN (on speakerphone): Hello!

- Hello, this is Rob, how can I help you?

- Okay, I...

This is a question about my mail-in ballot.

It said "spell out your full name."

So I put my first name, I spell out my middle name, and, of course, my last name.

And when I got the ballot, the name on the address is just my first and last name.

They omitted my middle name entirely.

Is that all right?

I do not want my ballot rejected due to a technicality.

- Your ballot's not gonna be rejected because your, you signed your middle name, but that's not what's on the voter record.

So as long as the first and last name match the signature, you're gonna be all set.

- All right, then.

(chuckling): I really want this vote to count.

- It will.

NEWSCASTER: The state marks an important day, the first day of early in-person voting in the Ocean State.

NEWSCASTER: In the now 20 days leading up to Election Day, Rhode Islanders can choose to vote in-person at their local city or town hall during their regular business hours.

And while some polling places, like in Warwick, voters could just walk right in, others, like in Providence, wrapped around the block to make sure their voices were heard.

WOMAN (on speakerphone): Happy Wednesday!

PLACENCIA: Yeah, I know.

Happy Emergency Voting Day, huh?

With a line out the door.

- Can't make it up, can't make it up.

- I... Oh, Jesus.

- All right.

I'm gonna look into thi and I'll get back to you, Kathy.

- Okay, thank you.

- All right.

- All right, bye.

- Bye.

- Uh... (tutting) Oh, my goodness.

People were waiting outside in Cranston at 7: 15.

They just hit 200 voters.

I don't... We're just not processing them fast enough.

I don't understand.

(people talking in background) I can take these.

WOMAN: Oh, wow.

- Yep, I came here to empty this out.

MAN: Okay, so they don't have to be in the other envelopes, right?

- No, nope, all right.

MAN: I have no patience, people.

- I'm sorry?

- Because I'm not happy with it at all.

- Okay.

- I want to physically vote.

I don't want none of this nonsense.

- Okay, that's your right.

- I've seen too much corruption in Rhode Island and in the United States.

I know what they're capable of.

LIMA: We can move you up to the front if you have any trouble standing.

WOMAN: I don't want to...

I already...

He waited for me, so I don't want to... - Are you sure?

- Yeah, I don't want... - Just let us know.

- Okay, thank you.

- Yep.

- I'll let you know if my legs start to go.

They must have saw those people in Georgia waiting for 11 hours, and they figure, "Better get there quick!"

Oh, yeah.

11 hours they stood in line.

MAN: Complete the ballot in one of the privacy booths, take the completed ballot to the machine at the end of the hallway, run it through the machine one page at a time.

- Okay, here you go.

WOMAN: You're gonna scan your driver's license on the inside of this Plexiglas.

MAN: ...requested absentee ballots for me and my wife.

We were sent the application, we filled it out.

I have not received that, but I received the mail-in ballot thing, which I did not apply for.

So I'm wondering whether you have some... BRITO: Okay, do you got it, Terri?

- Okay, when you sent us an application, you're applying for a mail ballot.

MAN: No, I applied for the absentee ballot.

- Okay, those are the same thing in Rhode Island: Absentee, mail-in, early vote, it's all... - We used to always, that the absentee, you get your signature notarized, so, I'm wondering, are you not... - Those requirements were waived due to COVID by the governor.

- They were waived?

- Yes.

- Okay, so in other words, you're not sending out absentee ballots, you sent out just the mail ones, right?

- (chuckling): They're the same exact thing in Rhode Island, in most states.

- No, that's what I'm understanding.

- It's a mail ballot.

- You passed on...

So you don't need a notary on mail-in.

- No, the envelope that came with it looks just like this.

It doesn't even have a spot for a notary or witnesses.

- All right.

So, I was just wondering if you were still gonna be sending the absentee ballot that I had applied for.

'Cause I did not apply for the mail-in one.

Even though we got... - They're the same thing in Rhode Island.

- Yeah.

- There's no difference.

- So you're telling me there's no absentee ballot going out.

It's just that one mail-in one, that's the one we use now for.

- That's your mail ballot, yes.

- Okay, all right, all right.

- Yup.

(telephone ringing) PLACENCIA: Hi, Terri, it's Kathy, how are you?

So you guys just hit 200?

I don't understand how your line is moving so fast.

'Cause we only have three booths in here.

That's what it-- oh, so that's what it is.

How many booths do you guys have?

Oh, I know, here, too.

Around the corner.

Around the corner.

(laughs) All right.

All right, I'll talk to you.

Thanks, bye.

Okay, so that's what it is.

I wonder if we, should we have... (bicycle bell ringing) TAYLOR: Did you get your booths?

PLACENCIA: How many can I fit in there?

- How many can you fit in your office?

- They're not gonna be in my office.

I'm rearranging everything.

They're gonna be out in the hallway.

- Whatever you want.

You can have as many as you want.

- Okay, give me, like, ten, just in case.

All right, Steve, thank you.

And so I still have to pick up my daughter.

(chuckles) How was your day, baby?

- Good, good, good.

- First of all, do you have homework?

- No.

- You don't have any homework today, okay.

- Uh... - You're gonna set your timer and you're gonna read for 15 minutes.

- Yeah.

- Right?

And then... - No, it's ten minutes.

- Okay, you're gonna read for ten minutes, and then you do your homework.

- Yeah, I have no homework.

- I thought you told me you had homework.

- No!

- Come on.

- I don't want you to leave.

- I know, but I gotta go.

I have a very busy day.

Perfect.

It's moving so much faster.

(people talking in background) (telephone ringing) MADONNA: Canvassing, Maria.

Last name, please?

I need your name and I can look up your information.

I can see... - Have you received the mail ballot?

- You have to go to Providence.

On the third only.

- When I pull up your name, I can see what your polling location is.

That's all I need.

WOMAN: Come right in here.

I'm gonna let this lady go first.

She's in labor, she's going right to the hospital...

So, we want to get her... MAN: All right, we'll let her... - I told her not, not here, we've got enough going on.

So some guy's in line, and he says, "Is it okay if I wait here?

"Could you hold my place?

My wife's in the car, we're going to the hospital, she's delivering."

So I said, "Go get her.

(chuckling): "I'll put her in the front of the line.

Get her outta here before..." I, we've had enough issues, I don't need to be delivering babies.

(laughs) So he says, yeah, they're going right to the hospital from here, but she insisted on voting.

WOMAN: Terri?

BUCCI: Yeah.

- The pregnant lady went to put her stuff in the thing, and it says full, won't accept any more ballots.

- Okay.

- What do you want me to do?

- Okay, then she can use the emergency slot.

(people talking in background) WOMAN: For social distancing reasons, we have to stop and let everything get caught up.

All right?

We'll be with you very soon.

MAN: Well, that's a good sign, right?

MAN: That's a good sign.

WOMAN: Yeah, everybody's voting this year.

MAN: That's good.

- Yeah, they said to empty it, so I emptied it, and the only choices were to close the polls or restart the machine.

POLL WORKER: Can they just, can they just use the emergency?

- If they want to, yeah.

- You, you all have your ballots completed?

MAN: Yes, sir.

- You can put 'em in the emergency slot here.

- Okay, in 2018, you voted into the primary, a Democratic primary.

So it changed your party in 2018.

You did not disaffiliate yourself after voting, so you stay a Democrat.

BRITO: She said you were supposed to call her about an undeliverable.

- I understand that.

Yeah, but you can't say that you would not vote Democrat when you've been doing it one, two, three, four, five, six, seven years.

Well, you did-- I don't know who you...

I can't see who was on the ballot.

I don't know who you voted for.

I just know that you voted on a Democratic ballot.

- (sighs) MADONNA: Well, you need to do it online or you need to print out a registration and then the change will be done.

You need to process.

I'm sorry.

WOMAN: It's okay, that's stressful.

- All right.

(telephone ringing) (siren blaring in distance) WOMAN: Hi.

So, this person moved to North Providence.

PLACENCIA: Mm-hmm.

What's her name?

Because I spoke to somebody today.

- They sent her here, but she's only eligible for a presidential... - Because it's (muted) North Providence.

She lives in North Providence now.

- (laughs) (woman speaking softly, Placencia enters phone number) (phone calling out) COLLEEN (on speakerphone): Boar of Canvassers, Colleen speaking.

- Hi, Colleen, it's Kathy in Providence.

So, now I have a voter here that lives in North Providence, and she's eligible to cast a president-vice president only ballot in North Providence, but she's here.

And she's not eligible to vote here.

- Well, who told her to go to Providence?

- North Providence.

- Well, what, is she... Did you look, is she in the...

Wait a minute, hold on.

- It's on the... She can vote now, you have... - Oh, you do, all right.

- But now she's been standing in line for, like, an hour waiting to vote and she's not even eligible to vote here.

- Okay.

- But I have to tell you, she's not the first one.

I've had people calling me all day long getting the wrong information.

(people talking in background) PLACENCIA: So you do vote in North Providence.

WOMAN: Okay, though, like I said, because I never changed my address, they told me to come here.

- Yep, so when you have your... Yeah, I just spoke to them, so, and I explained to her, you do belong in...

I feel terrible because you were here, but that's technic... You're eligible to vote for president and vice president in North Providence.

GANSERT: So, what happened was, you filled the memory card on your machine.

So what we're gonna do is, I have a stick.

So I'm gonna replace that in the current machine that you have and we'll get you this one.

Okay, where is this going?

MAN: It's fine to leave right there.

- I'll leave this here, then.

Let me fix the other one now.

(people talking in background) LIMA: Hey, Dan, our machine totally broke down this afternoon.

The memory card reached its capacity.

But, yeah, so they just rushed another machine over to us and we're gonna swap it out for tomorrow morning.

GANSERT: Power's off, give it a second.

Okay, now this one's ready to go.

BUCCI: Oh, goody!

MAN: Should we start using it?

BUCCI: Yep.

GANSERT: Yup, they can start using it now.

Start both, use them both at the same time.

That's what I would do.

NEWSCASTER: This morning, cases of the virus are surging in 35 states.

NEWSCASTER: Rhode Island is headed in the wrong direction, says Governor Gina Raimondo.

- This is a wakeup call.

It's a wakeup call for all of us.

NEWSCASTER: The impact of the rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations is not good news for Rhode Islanders.

PLACENCIA: I, I think that, you know, the concern-- and it's not just you, it's been a lot of the locations that are being used-- we haven't had any issues as far as people not wearing a mask, and I think the disclaimer, where everyone gets scared, is that I say, but I can't turn anyone away for not wearing one.

What the state has said was that, you know, because of their constitutional right, what we don't want to do is turn anyone away.

WOMAN (on phone): All right, I will talk to... - (exhales) - ...some time tomorrow.

- Okay, mm-hmm, no problem.

Thanks, bye-bye.

(sighs) (quietly): Jesus Christ.

Steve, I'm gonna (muted) lose my mind.

TAYLOR (on phone): Really?

- Mm-hmm.

Talk about, I, I... My cathedral?

- Yep.

- All...

They're so concerned right now.

So I might just lose them.

I'm just letting you know.

I, I can't take all this anxiety anymore.

This is just (muted) crazy.

- Yeah.

You just, you just gotta take a chill pill there... - "Take a chill pill."

Jesus (muted).

(chuckles) I can't-- how many more days?

How many more days?

I can't.

LIMA: Yeah, it's fantastic.

We've had a line out the door the last couple of days.

We've had over 700 people yesterday for the first time.

(telephone ringing) WOMAN (on phone): Hi, I'm calling to track the status of my mail-in ballot.

PLACENCIA: Yeah, have you tried tracking it online?

- I did, I looked it up online, there's nothing there.

- The Board of Elections did inform us that they're in the process of scanning in all the ballots.

So don't worry about your ballot, it's there.

- Okay.

DE BURGO: I just got a phone call from a voter.

She requested a mail ballot application.

I sent it to her.

She hasn't received it.

The problem is, she can't come in to vote because she's COVID-positive.

GRACE: Let's go drop off the emergency ballot application.

Right?

We put it under her door.

DE BURGO: Yeah, how is she gonna get it back to us?

GRACE: We go pick it up.

PLACENCIA: And then we can figure out how many sneeze guards we're gonna need for each location.

- Did you supply them to every person?

- Mm-hmm, every polling location, and they'll have disinfectant and all that, as well.

LIMA: She can vote here at City Hall, but it's actually busier here than it is at the polling places on Election Day.

We have more people voting before Election Day than on it.

PLACENCIA: These polling locations have me so worried.

You have no idea.

I want to set them all up myself-- if I could, I would.

- Okay, so, so, okay, so, I don't have you on for working tomorrow.

So I'm not losing you as a poll worker.

RAPOZA: We're almost there.

WOMAN: 11 days, in case anybody's counting.

I'm totally counting.

I didn't expect to see many of you this morning due to the fact that we are crazy busy, every single one of us.

I mean, emergency voting is bigger than I believe we ever, ever suspected.

BUCCI: You have to have an active I.D.

I can give you... MAN: David told me I'd have no problem.

- Okay, David doesn't work in this department.

He doesn't know the exact laws and rules that we have to follow.

I'm gonna give you another way to vote.

You just can't vote through this poll pad.

It needs to see an I.D., a Rhode Island active I.D.

PLACENCIA: I don't know what's happening in the news, but people are just, like, freaking out.

I think I probably responded to, like, 50 emails yesterday.

"I am disappointed that the information "has still not updated.

I don't understand why it takes more than a week" to see that her ballot has been received.

- People think we're not doing our jobs.

Everybody's saying the same thing.

"I dropped off my ballot a week ago in that box "and I don't see any activity.

"I don't know if it's been received.

Has it been opened?

Who opened it?"

Everybody wants to know, what happened to my ballot?

WOMAN (on phone): I'm just not comfortable, because somebody is still removing the ballot from the envelope with my name on it.

PLACENCIA: The envelope has your name on it, the ballot does not.

No one is looking at your ballot.

That's not what they're there for.

You know, they're election officials.

- It's just, I have a big trust issue.

This world is awful.

- Yes, but... - And nobody is doing what they're supposed to do.

PLACENCIA: Hello, yo (indistinct) otra vez , okay?

S, yo lo pongo aqu en el buzn.

WOMAN: This the way to the polls?

- Yup.

Right this way, the line's in that path, right there.

It's about a five-minute wait to get inside.

MADONNA: Oh, see?

I told you it was beginning to look like Christmas.

Start singing.

BRITO: How cool!

MADONNA: Do you want to build a snowman?

BRITO: I love it.

- (chuckles) - I should get my picture taken.

- Outside?

LIMA: It's a great day for voting.

LIMA: Governor's office wants to know if we have contingency plans in place if election staff have to quarantine.

This had to be planned out and set months and months ago.

We should have all been getting tested regularly.

We should have all been given access and support, and we haven't.

I mean, everything in this state has been micromanaged down to getting takeout at a restaurant and what you can and can't do when you go to a store.

But it's been hands-off on elections, and we've been left to our own devices pretty much since this has started.

We'll figure it out, you know, we'll roll with it.

It's all we can do, it's all we've been doing all along.

GRACE: Welcome, everyone, my name is Sonia Grace.

I am the city clerk here in the greatest city in the state.

Right?

Come on, come on, guys-- so, welcome.

Both Alberto and I run the elections here in the city, and what we usually do is, we have an opportunity for you to meet the people with whom you're going to work.

This pandemic had other ideas for us.

So, this is the best we could do.

Polls open at 7: 00.

- So, what I'm doing is assigning poll workers right now.

The yellow are the spots that we need to fill.

We've noticed that with the spike in numbers, a lot of people are dropping out.

– Another update: we had asked you to be tested for COVID.

Turns out that because of the high numbers of folks trying to get tested and the need of the testing sites to actually test people who have a reason for it other than "we're going to work in elections," so, these are folks who have been exposed or have considered, been positive, they cannot accommodate us.

(raining steadily) ROCK: Jess, do you need me?

CIGNA (faintly): No.

- All right, I'm gonna head out and deliver some ballots.

- (responds indistinctly) - I'm hoping that one of these families will invite me in for dinner again.

- (laughs) (engine starts) Had to go to Coventry Town Hall to deliver some ballots.

(music begins) - Oh, I wanna dance with somebody - Couldn't have planned that any better, huh?

- (laughs) - Celine Dion.

And Mariah-- I mean, and Whitney, probably the three best.

There's a good chance that they wouldn't get to the voter if we mail them tomorrow, you know, they might get there Monday or Tuesday, but that's really cutting it close, so, we're gonna deliver the ballots.

My colleagues across the country like to tease me about how small we are and that, you know, I could open up my office window and yell to all of our voters 'cause we're so, we're so tiny.

And so my, my good friend down in Kentucky, Jared, said, "I bet you you could just take a couple of teams of people and just deliver all your mail ballots in person."

And he said that, you know, a couple of months ago, and I said, "You know what?

That's-- why not?"

(rain falling heavily) I'm here to drop off two mail ballots.

Yeah, where?

Oh, at the bottom?

Yep.

All set.

Thank you.

(gate closes) (sizzling) (exhales) I kinda like them burnt, but we call that hockey pucks.

I tell you what, Nick Lima is on it.

He does not skip a beat.

All right, this is coming off.

(computer audio playing) Oof, it's crunchy-- not good.

- (on computer): ...virtual event tonight taking a look at the 2020 elections, particularly from the perspective of security and cybersecurity, looking at threats, strategies, and solutions.

- After work is when all the election directors can finally catch their breath and that's when we start getting a bunch of texts from Nick in Cranston, Kathy in Providence.

- ...consequential presidential election in modern history.

- This is the final push, and so it's, like, adrenaline at this point.

Everybody's tired, everybody's probably not feeling their best, but this is when you gotta just push through and make it another week.

- ...officials have really come to see election security as a critical component of their jobs... - Come on, mention Rhode Island.

- ...didn't before.

- It's been intense, but yeah, I mean, elections are not perfect.

I think anyone that expects a perfect election, it's just not a reasonable, there are gonna be...

There are gonna be machines that break down.

There are gonna be poll workers that don't show up.

There are gonna be phone calls that go unanswered because, you know, all the lines are busy.

But I think things have gone smoothly so far.

Early voting's going well, mail ballots have gone well.

So, there's no reason why Election Day won't, won't, either, so... (computer chirps) SOFIA (on speakerphone): This is my real mom speaking?

PLACENCIA: Virtual mom.

- Virtual mom?

- The real mom gets home later.

- But you are my real... - But the real mom said, told virtual mom to please let Sofia know what she needs to do for tonight, okay?

- So, where's my real mom, Virtual Mom?

JACOB (on speakerphone): Give me the phone, Sofia.

- Give Jacob the phone.

SOFIA (in distance): I am reading!

- All right, so then, when you're done reading, after your time is up, then I want you to call me and tell me all about the stuff that you read.

JACOB: And then take a shower.

- And then you're gonna go take a shower.

SOFIA: Okay, all right.

Yeah.

- Okay?

- Bye.

- Bye.

(sighs) (phone ringing out) Renay?

RENAY BROOKS OMISORE (on phone): Yes.

- Hi, it's Kathy.

Do we know how many supervisors we have?

- (on speakerphone): No, we have 254 supes.

- That's not including what's at the Dunkin' Donuts Center.

- Correct.

- Dios mio.

(whispers): What the (muted)?

(aloud): Where is the time?

- (chuckles): You know, Kathy, I swear, this election cycle is, it's, time is against us.

I mean, it's never been like this before.

- No.

- You know, it's just that time is against us.

The locations don't want us.

We're gonna get this done, kiddo, you wait and see.

- I know.

- In three weeks, Kathy, nobody will know us-- we'll be back to being those anonymous people.

- That's right.

Yeah.

- Where being in the background is better.

- Mm-hmm.

- It really, really is.

- Yeah.

Thank you, bye.

- All right, bye.

- Let me see how many messages I have.

VOICEMAIL ANNOUNCEMENT: You have 75 new voice messages and one saved voice message.

- Jesus... (chuckles) WOMAN (on voicemail): For the last several years, I have been voting at Laurelmead.

And I don't know if it's going to be the same place this year because of the COVID.

WOMAN (on voicemail): I'm looking to confirm I registered to vote in Rhode Island.

MAN (on voicemail): I lost my I.D., but I'm a registered voter.

I'm asking if I can use my bus pass.

MAN (on voicemail): Yes, hi, my name is Mr. Dick.

- (laughing) - I had a question about voting and I called this number on the mail-in ballot, and nobody answers the phone.

- (laughing) - So, maybe I got transferred to you.

If you could give me a call, please, I'm in Providence... And my name is Mr. Dick-- I'd appreciate a call back.

ROCK: Morning, everyone.

Right now, we've got just under 133,000 people have voted early.

Just to put it in, in context, in 2016, it was 15,000 people.

It's been going great.

Today, I expect it to be the busiest, because early voting does end at 4:00.

So, if you haven't voted yet and you want to vote early, you've gotta do it by 4:00 today.

(people talking in background) MAN: I didn't say anything to you, just...

POLL WORKER: Well, you're making your hand motions.

- I can make any motions I want.

- Not when they're obscene like that, sir... - I'm going like this, which means... - And I know what that means... - What's it mean?

What's it mean?

I'm Italian, what's it mean?

- Okay?

I have another call coming through.

Canvassing, Maria Madonna.

BRITO: Oh, thank you.

We're doing a good job, somebody said.

BUCCI (faintly): Oh, yay.

We take donations.

MADONNA: Food, we'll take-- I'll take food, yeah.

(people talking in background) GRACE: Why is it always rough?

DE BURGO: I don't know.

MAN: And we have sneeze guards that were left here.

GRACE: This doesn't make any sense.

MAN 2: Does it?

- This doesn't make any sense, this is completely wrong.

- This should all be on that side.

(Grace and man talking softly) GRACE: Which door are we using?

MAN: This door.

GRACE: So it's reverse.

MAN 2: Okay.

- I wonder if they're all this way.

We're gonna be doing this until 10:00 tonight.

Because we have to go redo every single one.

Right?

So, let's get started.

(people talking in background) (Placencia sighs) (machine punches) 4:00, let's go.

The line is cut off-- this is it.

Yeah, this is the end of the line here.

- Okay.

- Mm-hmm, no, meaning that anybody after me cannot come in.

- (speaking softly) What do you mean?

– It closes at 4: 00.

So, I'm the end of the line.

- Can I be in there?

- No, I can't, I can't allow that, 'cause if I let you, I have to let anybody else that comes in.

- No, you don't have to let anybody, only me.

- No, I can't do that-- I can't break the law.

- But how can I vote tomorrow?

I have to work.

- I'm sorry, no, you can go to your polling place tomorrow.

'Cause this-- are you in line for voting?

But it's closed after me, that's it.

MAN: Well, let me ask you this, all right?

So, I moved here from North Carolina.

- Mm-hmm.

- I got, I went online to update my address.

- Mm-hmm.

- I went to the-- and it still has my old address where I lived in Cranston.

(phone ringing in distance, Placencia typing) PLACENCIA: But I did look further into it-- I grabbed your license.

MAN: You didn't look into North Carolina.

- I don't have access to North Carolina.

But your registration in North Carolina has nothing to do with your... - (protesting) ...why it is for me, because obviously, if I was registered in North Carolina at the same time, and you see cancellation, that cancellation has to be for something.

- Who did you contact?

- I did it online.

- But you just told me you contacted somebody.

Who?

- No, no, I did it online-- I did it online.

Doesn't, does it show a cancellation of Rhode Island?

- A cancellation for a completely different reason other than you moved out of state.

It does not show that you moved out of state.

It was a different type of... - What type of cancellation...?

- Because you hadn't voted for two federal elections.

So by law.... - I have never missed a federal vote.

I haven't missed a vote since... - How can I help you right now?

- What's frustrating is that I feel like you're not hearing me; I hear what you're saying, but I'm telling you what happened.

- Okay.

- And you're telling me, "This is all I can see"; I respect that.

But there's more to it than that, and that's what you're not getting.

That's what I'm saying.

- Okay.

DE BURGO: We're closed-- we're closed.

MAN: There's no voting?

I can't vote?

DE BURGO: No, that's tomorrow.

Early voting ended at 4: 00.

- (speaking indistinctly) - 4:00 everywhere.

PLACENCIA: Okay, Doorley Building, all set.

Pizzitola, all set.

Temple Beth El is all set.

DaVinci is all set.

Water Supply Board is all set.

Manton is all set.

Joslin Rec Center.

WOMAN: It's almost 11:00, Kathy.

Please go home.

(chuckling) Tomorrow it will be a different day.

- I know, that's the problem.

- (laughs) - ...all set, Neutaconkanut is all set.

Rosario, all set, Hartford Park's all set.

Casino is all set, Botanical is all set.

Algonquin should be all set.

Good morning.

You're all five, right?

(man responds) Okay.

Is that all of nine?

This is number eight.

MAN: Yeah, I know.

- So you have Steel Yard and Water Board.

Steel Yard is right here, that's it.

MAN: You know that's... - Just that, yep.

Just these two.

Everything else is Water Board, okay?

- All right, all set.

- Thank you.

So this is 13.

GRACE: Good morning--- quick, quick, quick, quick, quick!

You're late, you're late, you're late, grab your stuff.

We'll see you in a bit?

- All right, thank you.

- You know what you're doing, right?

Call us if you need us-- we'll be there in a bit.

WOMAN: Sign the sheet, and then have a seat in the lobby, okay?

And then as something opens up, we'll call you in.

PLACENCIA: What's wrong with the DS200?

Are they just not plugging in or they're not turning on?

GRACE: Supervisors.

Clerk supplies.

(phone ringing) Hello.

Oh, what's up?

I have no moderator at Calcutt.

I don't know who.

MAN (on phone): Is Endiendo there?

- Endiendo's here, but I have no moderator.

Yeah, I'm here, no moderator, though.

PLACENCIA: You opened everything up, so you're ready for, to open at 7:00, correct?

Oh, my God.

The iPads keep freezing.

JENNIFER SMITH-REGAN: Board of Elections.

- Now, are you syncing all of them at once?

- Jason, can you get over to 2411 A.S.A.P.?

The moderator didn't show up.

They need somebody to open that machine.

I'm trying to get in touch with the City Hall.

- Okay, they can open on time, they're just gonna use the emergency compartment till we get 'em swapped.

MAN: Is that a syncing error?

SMITH-REGAN: It's Jen, from the Board of Elections, how are you?

Well, you're not good.

You guys need to answer your phone.

You have a moderator that did not show up at 2411.

Somebody needs to go over there and open that DS200.

WOMAN (on speakerphone): We're missing two supervisors, a door greeter, and a cleaner.

PLACENCIA: Okay, we'll, yup, we'll send someone over there.

OMISORE: Thank you.

- We're at Precinct 2875.

PLACENCIA: I know exactly where you are.

- Okay, what location... - Okay, thanks, bye-bye.

- Can somebody give me the name of the location?

- Neutaconkanut.

Hi, hello, this is Kathy.

Yep, just text me the number, the precinct number that's on there, that shows up.

It should be 2843.

WOMAN: Like, five minutes from here.

- It says 46?

(muted) people.

Okay, let me get somebody over there.

Yep, it's the wrong one, thank you, bye.

(sighs) So yes, they're wrong.

2843 is at 2846, and 2846 is at 2843.

They were labeled wrong.

The Board of Elections did; that's not my job, so... (laughs) GRACE: Are you ready?

Hm?

Everything's checked off?

All right, one minute, guys.

(metal clicking and snapping) (phone ringing softly) - Polls are open, it's official-- 7:00 a.m. LIMA: Morning, how's everybody doing?

How are you?

Tommy.

I'm gonna have you set up more privacy booths.

That seems to be where the logjam is.

We've got more, might as well use them.

TOMMY: Okay.

GRACE: Good morning, how's it going?

Has it been busy?

LIMA: Get me a extension cord and some tape.

We're gonna run the extension cord from the end of that outlet and tape it down.

- Okay.

GRACE: Oh, thank you so much.

We got this-- we're gonna make it.

WOMAN: Yes, we are, we're gonna make it.

MAN: Apparently voters got information that E-Cubed and Veazie Street School had the same address.

PLACENCIA: So the mailing was not correct.

It was marked Algonquin House when they should have been at the West End Community Center.

WOMAN: Rob, Jason sent you an email.

They, apparently, they sent postcards with the wrong polling place information to people.

- All right, all right, I'm gonna give 'em a call.

LIMA: The Board of Elections just called and said that the poll workers are not calling out the names and addresses in a loud, clear voice.

Louder-- say the name and address as loud as you can.

If you lose your voice at the end of the day, I'll give you an extra pin.

Unfortunately, I can't give you anything else.

GRACE: Good morning!

Good morning, Knights of Columbus people!

WOMAN: Wow!

- Hey!

- How are you doing?

- I'm good, babe, how you doing?

- Good, tired.

- How's it going?

- The past four voters we've had, their ballots have been voided.

Like, the machine won't take it.

So, we have to void it, give them a new ballot, and then they fill it out and the machine takes it.

I've tried flipping it upside down, flipping it over.

- Another one?

WOMAN: It accepted the... WOMAN: It's accepting some.

GRACE: Some and not others.

WOMAN: Scanner's not working.

Scanner... See?

(machine beeping) GRACE: It might be... Let's see... WOMAN: Otherwise we're gonna have to do a manual count.

GRACE: So, we'll get the manual count bag.

So, we have a couple of options for you.

You can stay with your ballot while we try to resolve it and then you can see it, try it, see if we can resolve it so it can go in the ballot, or we have this bag that says "manual count," and it's basically, we will keep all the ballots in here, and then at the end of the night, or as soon as we can fix it, we'll stick it in.

So, those are the two options that I can give you.

- You can take it.

- Do you... Do you want to leave it?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

(phone calling out) DE BURGO (on speakerphone): Hi, Sonia.

- I'll give a heads up, at Knights of Columbus, the DS200 was acting up.

I told them if it doesn't get resolved in an hour, I want a new one.

LIMA: Steady here, that's good.

WOMAN: Yeah, very good, no complaints.

The checkers are working great with us.

- Oh, that's good.

That's good.

MAN: Hey, I need help over here.

MAN: What happened?

WOMAN: All right, call 911?

LIMA: Yep, call 911.

(sirens wailing) GRACE: Your machine isn't working?

What do you mean, your machine isn't working?

So we can unplug it, right?

Yeah, I'll be there in a minute.

LIMA: Yeah, put, um, like, two or three booths along this wall.

We got an outlet right here.

Again, they had the space, they should've set 'em all up.

I don't know why they didn't.

MAN (on speakerphone): Until we get this resolved, they're gonna have to open the emergency slot.

They're gonna have to be scanned when we can get the machine up and running.

WOMAN: Thank you.

- Not a problem.

- Sorry for the... - Thank you.

DE BURGO: Let me call Steve and see if he can get us a DS200.

GRACE: Just, we want a new one.

- I don't know if he can do it, though.

- What?

- They might not have enough, that's the problem.

GRACE: Oh, my friend!

She hasn't voted in years, she just sent me a picture with her sticker.

People are really touching me today.

Did you see that old lady that was over there?

81 years old, first time voting.

Come on now, guys.

OMISORE: Not even an email, whoo!

Oh, my gosh, I feel wonderful.

Not even an email.

That hasn't happened in weeks.

WOMAN: Would you like a sticker?

MAN: Oh, yeah, of course.

- Thank you for coming.

WOMAN: No red on these stickers-- we need red, white, and blue.

LIMA: Next time-- it was a high school kid that designed 'em, so... - We need some red!

- (chuckles): Yeah.

ROCK: She's talking about the sticker contest?

WOMAN: Yeah, people are pissed off because the sticker doesn't have red in it.

- Doesn't have what?

- Red in it-- red in it.

The sticker doesn't have red in it.

(chuckles) (phone ringing) DE BURGO: Hey, Matt.

MATTHEW JERZYK (on phone): Hey, did you see my text about Knights of Columbus?

- No, I did not.

- So, the machine's been broken for the last two hours, according to the clerk there.

- Yeah, they, they were supposed to send us a new machine, but then the secretary, I mean, sorry, Board of Elections stated that they weren't sending another machine.

So, what they're doing is just sticking it in, they're sliding it into the emergency pocket in front of the machine.

At the end of the night, they're going to have to manually count every ballot.

- I'm just confused-- why are the people of Central Falls not being allowed to cast their ballots?

- They are being allowed to cast their ballot.

They're not being told they... - They don't have the comfort of putting them in the machines.

- They are putting them in the machines.

- I've never known a machine to be broken for this long in my 20 years of doing this work, so...

This, you need to do better.

- Will do.

- All right, man.

- Bye.

Oh, this election is killing me.

(sighs) REPORTER: Emily, we learned from the secretary of state's office that Rhode Island has now matched its 2016 voter turnout, and that was about an hour ago.

So, it is likely we will set a new record for voter turnout by the end of the night.

With so many ways that you can vote this year, the board is projecting that more than 70% of registered voters in Rhode Island will vote.

MIGUEL NUNEZ (on phone): Our technician went to check that machine and it seemed to be working.

It's a small print quality issue.

So, here's how we're gonna solve the problem.

- Hold on, can I put you on speakerphone so my moderating clerk can hear?

- Yeah.

WOMAN: That'd be great.

GRACE: Okay.

This is Miguel from the Board of Elections.

NUNEZ (on speakerphone): Anything that's in that emergency compartment you nee to put in that manual count bag and seal it and sign it.

Those are gonna come back to us... GRACE: Is this something we should drop off to you tonight?

- Manual counts typically come back with the returns, which would be on Friday.

- We'd prefer for them to go and be out of here tonight.

We would rather not hold onto them.

So, if there's a way that we could drop it off, I'd appreciate it, and I'm ready to go, and I even have police escort to go with me.

- All right, sounds good.

I'll get back to you.

- Okay, thank you.

- All right, bye.

- Bye.

It's a plan, right?

- So, when do we know who's president?

(woman chuckles) - I don't want to know.

One stressful situation at a time.

LIMA: This is my 30th location of the day.

WOMAN: Oh, do you have to visit every single one?

- I don't have to, but I wouldn't be a very good elections director if I didn't.

How's everybody doing tonight?

I'm Nick from the Board of Canvassers.

It's a long day amongst different circumstances than we're used to, and no matter what, we're part of history tonight, because we may very well see an all-time record-high turnout.

(phone rings) GRACE: Hey, Miguel, hold on.

NUNEZ (on speakerphone): So, what we want you to do is bring the ballots here tonight.

- Okay.

- We're gonna have another DS200 set up here and we are gonna finish loading in those 60 or so from the emergency compartment, and then we're going to, right then and there, produce the totals.

- Oh, I appreciate it, I really, really do.

MAN: The polls are closed.

WOMAN: The polls are closed.

Hurray!

Congrat, everyone!

(applauding) (phone ringing) SMITH-REGAN: Has it got the little circle going?

I call it the circle of death.

Keep in mind the DS200's a digital scanner, honey.

It took a picture of all the ballots.

So, now it's tabulating them all.

MAN: ...Trump, 235.

Democrat Joseph Biden, 115.

MAN: Okay, Trump, 252 votes.

Biden, 833.

Allen Waters, 150.

TAYLOR: The MiFi has nothing to do with the DS200s.

Nope, not at all.

MAN: Jacob, 25 in Warwick, the screen is frozen.

- So, that adds up to 722.

So on my end, you're... (phone rings) You're balancing out here.

(phone calling out) BOY (on phone): Hi, Mom.

GRACE: Well, I still have a lot of work to do, so I probably won't see you tonight.

- Oh, whack!

You gotta do something, like, less stressful.

- (laughs): No, I like my job.

I have so many stories to tell you.

- All right, bye, Mom!

- Goodbye, love you all.

It's these and these, this is what I was told to bring.

- Okay, you wanna come with me?

- Yes, sir.

- Okay, cool.

So, we're ready to go.

I'm gonna start feeding these in.

And we'll see how we do.

MAN: There you go.

GRACE: I like it when it works.

(laughs) PLACENCIA: So, what are the percentages off top, then?

Yeah, it's 89, 60... 54.

Okay.

MAN: And, like, look at Rhode Island broken down.

Barrington, 83% in with Trump ahead by 100 votes.

Johnston and Little Compton actually is not in, but it's, this is the effect of early voting.

It just has not all totaled up.

There's just way too many factors playing into it.

- Yeah.

- On top of the fact that there are mail-in ballots, early voting, and in-person voting all to come in-- I don't know.

That's gonna have to go into morning.

NEWSCASTER: If you managed to sleep last night, things changed.

You may have gone to bed thinking this election was headed one way and then you woke up and you saw things were different and maybe trending, trending increasingly in another direction.

- The vote count has favored Joe Biden after election night itself.

The record numbers of early votes weren't even gonna begin to get counted until yesterday, until Election Day itself.

And it was the case this year the Democrats made a concerted effort.

They tried to get their voters to vote early, and President Trump was actually discouraging his people to do that.

DONALD TRUMP: This is a fraud on the American public.

We were getting ready to win this election.

Frankly, we did win this election.

REPORTER: And the president also threatened legal action, even though there's nothing to challenge yet because ballots are still being counted by the thousands, by the hundreds of thousands.

NEWSCASTER: Thousands of emergency and mail ballots are still being counted today at the Board of Election.

This is delaying the results of several local races here, especially in Cranston, where there was a glitch in a USB drive.

LIMA: Hey, have you heard what happened with our DS200?

Yeah, once it hit 14,000 and something ballots, that USB was just out of memory.

So, we can't report our early voting results.

So, there's gonna be a meeting at 10:00 with the State Board of Elections, and that they intend to rerun all the emergency ballots, and our office could be present for the recount, or not recount, or the ballot tabulation this morning, which is gonna be tough for us, because we're doing our provisional ballots, the write-ins.

So, we got a lot going on today.

I don't know about the other towns.

When Bob talked to me this morning, he said, you know, that ours is the only one they were unable to get on because of that memory drive-- USB stick.

Oh, I know that-- no, trust me.

(with mouth full): This is one thing I know...

I'm eating a doughnut right now, sorry.

I just realized, I hadn't eaten since Monday.

(laughs) MAN: I understand the course of action in terms of... LIMA: It is a software glitch.

MAN: Who is scanning these ballots?

Is it us or is it the Board of Elections?

LIMA: The Board of Elections.

But they're gonna have representatives... Yeah, they want representatives from our office to witness it.

- (sighs) Nobody should be declaring victory in the city till this is done.

MAN: Yeah, that's a lot of votes.

- Yeah.

- All right.

LIMA: Okay.

- Joseph Casalino.

- C-A-S-A-L-I-N-O, yeah.

- Logan Napolitano.

- Yeah.

- (clears throat): Kanye West.

- Morning, Mr. Speaker, it's Nick Lima... - One for Jesus Christ, original spelling.

(man chuckles) (people talking in background) MAN: All right, everyone, we're gonna get started over here.

MAN: Everyone on this side, please.

We'll get some chairs over here for you.

Get you a six-piece bar.

(talking and laughing softly) (machine whirring) (people talking in background) (machine whirring) LIMA: Yeah, we're here at the Board of Elections.

They just started running the ballots through the machines and this is all off of that flash drive I told you about the other day.

Yeah, a few of the candidates have representation.

There are some close General Assembly races.

There are a couple of council races that depend on, you know, this vote.

So, they're all vote-watching like a hawk.

Depending on how the vote swings with this early voting, that could be, you know, decisive in a lot of races.

Yeah.

MAN: Ward six, Reilly 3,090.

Bucci, 2,851.

Non-partisan School Committee citywide, Traficante, 30,446.

(man continues reading results) MAN: I won!

MAN: Question 4, approve: 23,800, reject: 12,755.

Question 5... REPORTER: With mail-in ballot counting still underway in several states, protests have erupted across the country.

- (chanting): We want Trump!

REPORTER: The president insists there's something wrong, tweeting, "They are finding Biden votes all over the place" with "surprise ballot dumps" leading to his support "magically disappearing."

- (shouting and clamoring) - How can 120,000 ballots show up after the election date?

And they're all for Biden?

PROTESTERS: From the mountains To the prairies To the oceans White with foam God bless America My home sweet home (blowing fanfare) MAN: You're an embarrassment to every Italian in Rhode Island!

WOMAN: We want fair!

PROTESTERS: Fair!

- Honest!

- Honest!

- Elections!

- Elections!

- And we want to ask Nellie, how were all those mail-in ballots certified when they came in?

They weren't!

(people yelling) This election is a fraud.

WOMAN: There was a illegal ballot dump in the State of Rhode Island!

We're not stupid!

And we know what happened!

- We want a recount!

- We the people!

- We want to know how many military ballots came in.

GANSERT: It's public record, so... - We want to view the mail-in ballots today!

- We're working on that.

- Where are the mail-in ballots?

Are they destroyed?

WOMAN: Show us the proof!

(shofar blowing) If you didn't cheat, show us the proof you didn't!

MAN: All right, we're gonna get started here.

We're gonna start with our first box.

WOMAN: Guys, we are doing, as you know, the risk limiting audit.

So, once you get your batch, you're gonna look, and you're only doing the presidential race.

So, let's say you take the first one out and it's for President Trump.

You're gonna look and say, "President Trump," pass the ballot to your partner, they will verify.

If you both agree, it's gonna go into the pile by the sign that says "Trump."

- Okay.

Biden.

WOMAN: Biden.

- Biden.

- Biden.

- Biden.

- Trump.

- Trump.

WOMAN: For Biden.

MAN: Biden.

- Trump.

- Trump.

- We're gonna go ahead and do the data entry, and nine for Trump, 16 for Biden.

- For Biden.

WOMAN: Returning audit team one.

Pile 29.

TAYLOR: Pile 29.

We've got 99 confirmed returned votes in that envelope, we have 19 votes for Trump, 80 votes for Biden.

We have a total ballot tally down here of 3,772 ballots that were tallied by hand, manually by human beings here at the Board of Elections, and it matches our batch size of 3,772.

So, we are golden as far as that is concerned.

MAN: Ladies and gentlemen, the risk limiting audit has concluded.

(all cheering and applauding) Thank you on behalf of voters throughout the country for all your work all year long.

I think a lot of people's eyes were opened about just how hard real people work to make elections happen.

WOMAN: Stop the steal!

ROCK: This looks like three people.

One holding a Trump flag, one holding an American flag, and one holding a sign.

I love passion, I love that people express their feelings, but it's a double-edged sword, because some people are so excited and so passionate that you're seeing hate mail.

You're seeing election officials across the country who are being threatened, and it's heartbreaking.

This is the envelope that the voted ballots are gonna go in.

Oh...

I mean, I'm an elections administrator.

Our job was to conduct an election so that people could vote easily and securely and safely.

We did that.

I'm not even talking about who won-- honest to God.

I didn't vote for the guy that won, I didn't vote for the guy that lost.

And that's why I can honestly tell you, I am so confident that this election was run well and that these documents are gonna get to Washington so that the votes are counted in Congress on, I think it's January 5 or 6.

It's not often you get to send something to the vice president of the United States.

It's pretty cool-- it's a formality.

But, I mean, really, what's cool about it is that these pieces of paper are gonna be counted before a joint session of Congress led by the vice president of the United States, which is pretty cool.

And it's interesting, 'cause the vice president is gonna be counting the votes that's gonna kick him out of office, which is interesting, I guess, too.

WOMAN: Oh, say, does that Star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free And the home of The brave?

MAN: The chair recognizes the Honorable Nellie Gorbea, secretary of state.

- Good afternoon, Rhode Island.

It's my honor to welcome you to the 2020 Electoral College.

Today, Rhode Island's presidential electors are going to be casting their ballots for president and vice president as required by federal law in a tradition that goes back more than 200 years.

I have sorted and counted the ballots and announce that there are four votes for Joseph R. Biden of Delaware for president of the United States.

(radio playing in background) LIMA: It's had its stresses, but I do love the job.

Because we're doing good.

We as a society have to say, "This is our process.

This is how we elect our government."

We need to have good, trustworthy, fair elections to do that-- and we do.

You know, with the election this year in Rhode Island, we had, on November 3, the in-person results released first and then the mail ballot results released later, then provisionals and other types of votes, manual count, get added in after that-- that's normal.

That happens every single election process.

Yet, only this year, people say, "Oh, why is this?

This is all wrong!"

It was like that in 2018, 2016, 2014, 1992.

Like, doesn't matter.

That's how we've always done it.

This is the way it's always been.

This is normal.

They read it as abnormal because it doesn't match their expectations in their head of what they've pieced together it should look like.

And it's very easy for someone with malintent to manipulate that fact-- which is a fact, that people don't fully understand the process-- to their own advantage, and that's, you know, that's what's happened, that's what's happening, and hopefully it happens less, you know, the further we go into 2021 and the further we go into the future of the country, because it can't happen more.

We're at a tipping point where it's dangerous if it happens more.

It's already dangerous now.

CHRIS PAPLAUSKAS: I call for the appointment of the registrar.

Any council member like to make a motion?

Council Member Donegan?

- President Paplauskas, I'd like to nominate Nicholas Lima.

PAPLAUSKAS: Nicholas Lima has been nominated for registrar.

Mr. Lima, congratulations, raise your right hand.

You do solemnly swear that you will be true and faithful unto both the Constitution of the United States... LIMA: Elections are about trust, and I'm worried right now that there are some people out there who are trying to say, "Well, elections officials can't be trusted."

Once you go down that road, I don't know how you ever get that trust back.

You know, that can spread like a virus, and to undo that damage, it's gonna take a monumental effort from a lot of people from all walks of life.

- ...and that you will well and truly execute the office in which you have been appointed, so help you God.

- I do.

- Congratulations.

Now nominations are in order for the office of council vice president.