By WPRO News and The Associated Press
Rhode Island is modernizing its voting equipment.
Gov. Gina Raimondo on Thursday signed legislation authorizing Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea to purchase upgraded voting equipment and software to replace current machines that are nearly two decades old.
Raimondo says the new machines will make voting easier and will make sure every vote gets counted.
Gorbea says she wants to modernize the equipment as part of a review of the entire elections process. She says voting is the most important right granted to citizens.
“Voting equipment is the infrastructure of democracy. If it doesn’t work well, you have problems on election day,” Gorbea said.
The secretary has said she won’t know the cost of the upgrade until she evaluates the technology available. Her office will seek proposals based on recommendations from a task force she convened to study voting equipment.
“It’s a good thing that Rhode Island is moving quickly on buying new machines,” said John Marion, Executive Director of the good government group Common Cause of Rhode Island, and a member of the voting equipment task force.
“Our machines are quite outdated, and there’s much better technology than we currently use,” Marion said.
Raimondo, a Democrat, hosted the ceremonial bill signing at the statehouse.
