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Journal photo / Kris Craig
John Leo, foreground, and Jason Siegel were among those signing disaffiliation papers after voting today at the Jewish Community Center in Providence.
WARWICK -- A desktop paper cutter at the Board of Canvassers office in City Hall was busy early this afternoon, as an employee quickly sliced 8.5-by-11-inch sheets of paper in half.
Pile after pile, the sheets rose on the front counter -- about 8 inches high -- ready for action. The purpose? The creation of perhaps a couple thousand extra voter-disaffiliation forms, plus roughly cut carbon-copy paper.
The new forms aren’t as neat as the official voter-disaffiliation forms from the state, with the yellow carbon copies glued to the top sheet.
But they’ll do the job of gathering the information a voter writes in for the Board of Canvassers and provide a copy for voters to take home.
City Board of Canvassers clerk Joseph E. Gallucci said about a third of Warwick’s 34 polling locations were running low on the forms.
He said polling locations are finding that “more people than not” are choosing a ballot for the primary of their choice and then disaffiliating from that party once they’ve voted.
U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., who's facing a tough primary battle today, was formerly mayor of Warwick.
Polling locations in Cranston -- home of Chafee challenger and Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey -- also reported running low on disaffilation forms.
-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson
The state had sent Warwick a couple thousand official forms, he said. But, he added,
“As a precaution, we’re making our own … That way, nobody runs out.”
Outside City Hall, a handful of people came to vote around the lunch hour. More people coming and going said they were in City Hall not to vote but because they work or were conducting business there.
-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson
