Actual Vote in Rhode Island
Poll tapes posted inside, or at closing time only
Information current as of June 2026
This page explains how to use the Actual Vote app in Rhode Island for the next election. New to Actual Vote? Start here to learn what it is and why it matters.
Yes — posted and read aloud. State law requires that “a copy shall be made available to the public at the polling place” (§ 17-19-33(a)(2)), and the warden must “read off in a clear and loud voice the vote for each candidate, and upon each question” (§ 17-19-32). Rhode Island is also one of the clearest states on recording: the Board of Elections rule expressly allows electronic recording inside the polling place, outside the railed voting area. One caveat for comparisons: the precinct tape covers in-person Election Day votes only — mail and early voting are counted centrally and appear separately on the state results site. Polls close 8 p.m.
Your participation is powerful: you join a nationwide team whose recordings get compared, tape-by-tape, against the officially reported results — an independent check on vote reporting, which is vulnerable to error and fraud. We haven’t published an Actual Vote analysis from Rhode Island yet, but see what a team achieved in the 2024 North Carolina primary. The process is legal and next-to-impossible to abuse for partisan gain: everything on a poll tape is already public.
This information was compiled using AI-assisted internet research along with some calls to election offices and word-of-mouth tips. It reflects America Counts’s best knowledge of how to access poll tapes in Rhode Island as of June 2026, but it cannot be guaranteed 100% accurate. The best way to be sure about accessing poll tapes in your area is to call your local elections office and ask — see below for ready-to-use scripts.
If your experience or knowledge of poll-tape procedure in Rhode Island is different from what we show here, please contact us and let us know — we update these pages as we learn more.
Your ways to participate in Rhode Island
In order of power — how early in the chain of custody the evidence is, how many tapes one person can capture, and how easy it is.
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Record the close at your polling placeMost powerful
In Rhode Island the tape is posted inside or read out at the close, so be present when the polls close and record it. Realistically about one location a night.
See a detailed example of how to make a plan to visit polling places on election night based in Broward County, Florida.
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Become a poll worker or observer
Working the polls or serving as an appointed observer puts you right at the source — the earliest point in the chain of custody, and the clearest view of the count and the tape.
See more details about Actual Vote for poll workers or observers.
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Visit or book an appointment at your county elections office
Election offices can often provide many precincts’ tapes at once — a great way to cover a whole county on your own schedule.
Email/phone script — book an appointment at your Rhode Island county elections office
To: [your county] County elections office
Re: Appointment to view and record precinct results tapes
Hello, and thank you for your work. My name is [name]. My friends and I use Actual Vote, an app from America Counts, a non-partisan election transparency organization — we video-record poll tapes and compare them to the official results as an independent double-check.
We’d like to request an appointment to view and video-record the certified precinct results tapes (summary statements) from the [date] election — Election Day, absentee/by-mail, and early voting — for [all precincts / the following precincts: ____]. [Preferred date and window] would work, but we’re flexible and happy to follow any rules your office sets.
Everything on these tapes is public records under the Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act (R.I. Gen. Laws § 38-2-3), and already public, so all we’d need is the tapes and a place to work. Thank you for considering it. — [name], [contact]Offices are busiest right before certification — offering a flexible window (and to start with a few precincts) makes a yes easier. See the full worked example for more.
See a detailed example of how to do this.
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File a public-records request for poll-tape images
Poll tapes are public records under the Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act. You can request digital copies by precinct and voting method — available in every state, though it captures the tapes later in the chain of custody.
Public-records request email — Rhode Island precinct poll tapes
To: [your city/town] Board of Canvassers
Re: Public records request — [election, e.g. November 3, 2026 General Election] results tapes, [your city/town]
Dear [City/Town] Board of Canvassers,
Under the Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act, R.I. Gen. Laws § 38-2-3, I’m requesting copies of public election records — specifically the precinct results tapes (also called “poll tapes”) made available to the public at the polling place, meeting the following criteria:
• From Rhode Island’s [election, e.g. November 3, 2026 General Election]
• From all precincts in [your city/town]
• I understand the precinct tape covers in-person Election Day votes only, since mail and early voting are counted centrally and reported separately on the state results site — for those methods, I’m after the corresponding central-count tabulation report
• Showing candidate-by-candidate vote totals — I don’t need zero or configuration tapes, though including them is fine
• If for any combination above no ballots were cast (so no tape was printed), simply omit it
Digital scans (emailed or via a download link, in any common format such as .pdf or .jpg) would be ideal; physical copies for pickup or mail are also fine. These are public records, and the totals they show are already made available to the public at the polling place under § 17-19-33(a)(2) and read aloud under § 17-19-32. They’ll be used for legitimate, non-partisan vote-reporting auditing with Actual Vote, an app from America Counts, a non-partisan election transparency organization — you can see exactly how it works, and why it’s non-partisan, at Start Here.
If you must redact anything beyond precinct name, voting method, and results totals, please go ahead. If you deny any part of this request, please cite the specific exemption and let me know the appeal options under the law. Please also tell me of any fee in advance — I request a fee waiver, as this analysis is in the public interest, contributes to election transparency, and is not for any commercial purpose.
Because our analysis is most useful before results are certified, I’d be grateful for the data within about a week if possible; if you expect a delay, just let me know when to expect it.
Thank you for considering this request. — [name], [email/phone]See a detailed example of how to do this.
Quick reference: tape access by role in Rhode Island
A companion to the options above. Whatever your role when the polls close — poll worker, appointed watcher, or member of the public — here’s who can see and record the results tape in Rhode Island, and how the state compares nationally.
Posted and read aloud; recording is expressly allowed.
Example Actual Vote Recordings
We don’t have any recordings from Rhode Island yet — you could be the first! Here are some example poll tape videos by Actual Vote users in other states. America Counts compares the vote totals on each poll tape video to the official results to double-check the accuracy of the vote reporting. See this report from North Carolina in 2022 for an example.
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Henderson County, North Carolina November 6, 2024 -
Broward County, Florida November 6, 2024 -
Gwinnett County, Georgia November 6, 2024
Recordings live in the public Actual Vote Video Archive.
How we know this — and how you can check it
This reflects America Counts’s June 2026 primary-source review of Rhode Island’s election statutes and Secretary of State guidance. We’re finalizing the detailed, fully-cited "how we know this" write-up for Rhode Island. In the meantime, the surest way to confirm what applies at your polling place or elections office is to call them directly. Found something different? Help us verify it.
Find your county's election website
County sites carry polling locations and local contact information. Search "[your county], Rhode Island elections" if a link 404s.
Ready to help?
Join the nationwide team independently double-checking how votes are reported — starting in Rhode Island.