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November 5, 2007

Primary Day change? Governor mulls veto

The General Assembly did its part to move Rhode Island’s presidential primary from March 4 to Feb. 5.

But the move won’t become official until the governor agrees not to veto the bill. His office told Political Scene Friday that he would decide one way or the other today. Meanwhile, critical deadlines are fast approaching, assuming the governor allows the Feb. 5 primary. Today is the deadline for individuals to file for political disaffiliation, if necessary, to run as a delegate for another party. And Wednesday is the deadline for voters to disaffiliate if they wish to vote in another party’s primary.

For a full calendar of deadlines, check the secretary of state’s primary guidebook online.

Political Scene suspected that the office wasted thousands of dollars printing the guidebooks listing deadlines corresponding with the March 4 primary dates. Political Scene was wrong.

Secretary of state spokesman Chris Barnett informed us that no hard copies of the guidebooks were printed. The books were offered only on the Internet this year.

“The decision to go completely electronically delivered on a pledge the secretary made during the campaign to use technology to make government more accessible,” Barnett said. He called the pledge “fortuitous far-sightedness,” given the likely change of date.

Posted by Pam Cotter  at 9:47 AM | Permalink

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