EDITORIAL: McKee Should Appoint 3 Person Panel to Review Elections -- Chaired by Republican Flanders

EDITORIAL: McKee Should Appoint 3 Person Panel to Review Elections -- Chaired by Republican Flanders

Last week’s admission by the Rhode Island Board of Elections that as many as 55 voters may have been disenfranchised raises serious questions about the Board, the vendor and the elections oversight being provided by outgoing Rhode Island Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Nellie Gorbea.

This failure, according to the Board of Elections’ spokesperson, is “unprecedented.”

Moreover, now that the Board is comprised of overwhelmingly by Democrats (6-1), its credibility is further diminished in its perception that it can properly regulate a fair election.

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In order to ensure confidence, Governor Dan McKee should appoint a three-person panel that will oversee the primary and the general election and serve as election monitors. Their charge would be to provide an independent and credible review during and after the election.

GoLocal recommends the three-person panel be comprised of:

 

- Former Rhode Island member of the Supreme Court Robert Flanders as the chair. In 2018, he ran for the United States Senate as a Republican and his experience as an overseer in his role as special master in for the bankrupt city of Central Falls is strong experience.

 

 

- Matthew Lopes is a nationally-recognized Special Master for the U.S. District Court in California and has played that role for decades. He is widely respected in Rhode Island and nationally. He assists the court in directing the treatment of more than 30,000 mentally ill prisoners throughout the 34 institutions within the California prison system. 

 

 

Recently retired Rhode Island Superior Court Justice Nettie Vogel would also be ideal. She served on the bench starting back in1994 when appointed by the late Governor Bruce Sundlun. Prior to that, she served in senior positions in government and is knowledgeable about elections.

 

 

These three would work independently of election and elected officials. They would be given unfettered access to the Board of Election and all information and data.

Their job would be to assess and review the fairness during the elections and report in real-time as well as after the elections. We also recommend that the Rhode Island Bar Association seek ten volunteer attorneys to staff the panel and they must be comprised of Democrats, Republicans, and non-affiliated individuals.

Imagine if a similar scenario happens in the Democratic primary, where hundreds of votes on the East Side of Providence are not captured due to another "tech failure" and Helena Foulkes loses the Democratic primary by just one hundred votes.

Or, in the general election, GOP gubernatorial candidate Ashley Kalus is defeated by Gorbea, but there are allegations of voter fraud in a Republican stronghold like Burrillville.

These scenarios are no longer doomsday prophecies being offered by conspiracy theorists or ultra-rightwing extremists. They are the outcomes of the reality of incompetence (at best) -- somewhere around 55 voters have already been disenfranchised.

Based on this recent failure and the lack of fair bi-partisan membership of the appointees to the Board of Elections, it is nearly impossible to defend the Board against charges of bias

Our Democracy and confidence in the elections are bigger than the egos of the Board, Gorbea, or the vendor.

We hope the Governor will take action immediately and provide a structure that ensures a higher degree of confidence in Rhode Island's elections.