AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Rhode Island on Election Day

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rhode Island voters will elect leaders for federal, state and other offices on Tuesday. Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in races for U.S. Senate, governor, U.S. House, mayor of Providence, lieutenant governor, attorney general, statewide ballot measures, state Senate, state House and state treasurer.

About 357,000 votes were cast in the 2022 race for Rhode Island governor.

About 29% of votes in the 2022 race for governor in Rhode Island were cast early or by absentee ballot. The latest advance vote totals for Rhode Island can be found in the AP’s advance vote tracker .

Rhode Island runs elections at the town and city level. All 39 jurisdictions are expected to release a mix of vote results from all vote types over the course of the night. Most jurisdictions are expected to release a mix of early in-person and in-person Election Day votes in the first vote update, before releasing any mail voting results.

The first results of the 2024 general election were reported starting at 8:09 p.m. ET, nine minutes after polls closed. The state reached 50% of votes reporting at 8:34 p.m. ET, and 90% of votes reporting at 12:03 a.m. ET.

The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

There are no automatic recounts in Rhode Island, but recounts may be requested depending on the vote margin. For contests with more than 100,000 votes cast, a recount may be requested if the vote margin is less than 0.5 percentage points or fewer than 1,500 votes, whichever is less. For races in which between 20,001 and 100,000 votes are cast, the vote margin must be less than 1 percentage point or fewer than 500 votes. If the total number of votes cast is 20,000 or fewer, the margin to request a recount is less than 2 percentage points or fewer than 200 votes. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/ .