NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 14, 2020
CONTACT: Ann S. Gooding, 401.228.4846 (c) 401.272.3367 (o)
R.I. CASTS ITS FOUR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORAL VOTES FOR AMERICA’S
46th PRESIDENT, JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr. & SEN. KAMALA HARRIS AS VICE PRESIDENT
Covid-19 precautions limit State House ceremony for official close to an historic election
WARWICK, R.I. – In a unique and subdued end to a dramatic presidential election, four Rhode Island Presidential Electors joined their nationwide counterparts, on Monday, to officially cast their ballots for Joseph R. Biden, Jr., as America’s 46 th President and Hon. Kamala Harris as its Vice President.
The ceremony took place at noon, officiated by U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., and included Governor Gina M. Raimondo, Secretary of State Nellie M. Gorbea, Providence Postmaster Jeanne Jackson and members of the state Board of Elections. At that ceremony, Electors Hon. Joseph R. Paolino, Jr., Elizabeth Beretta-Perik, Hon. Council President Sabina Matos, and Mayor James A. Diossa unanimously cast their ballots for Biden for President.
Also attending were the Presidential alternates, selected previously by the state Democratic Party executive committee: Rep. June Speakman, PhD., Anthony DeRose, Linda Ujifusa, Esq., and Sen. Harold Metts. Because of health considerations, only a small number of state and Party staff were on hand for the historic moment.
The event was broadcast simultaneously on Capitol T.V., without the usual pomp and circumstance of past presidential electoral colleges, and it included few remarks by the state’s elected officers.
“Despite the health care crisis of the past year, and the obstacles presented to this state and
nation in this election, we’re here today to carry out this Presidential Electoral College, which has been so vital to our democracy,” said Joseph M. McNamara, Chair of the state’s Democratic Party. “It is always a most humbling and emotional experience to witness, as it perseveres,” he said.
The ballots were given to the Providence Postmaster to send to Washington, D.C., where they
will be tallied in a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021.
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