Michelle R. Smith, ASSOCIATED PRESS
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Rhode Island voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to send their first Republican to the U.S. House in two decades and allow the state’s two slot parlors to turn into full-fledged casinos. In Providence, anger over the state’s $75 million loan guarantee to former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s failed video game company could cost Democratic House Speaker Gordon Fox his seat.
Statewide, voters will decide if Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse gets a second Senate term and whether to authorize several public building projects.
Tuesday’s election will be the first big test of a new state law that requires voters to show identification, such as a driver’s license or passport. This year, they also will be allowed to present non-photo ID, such as a utility bill. Polls will close at 8 p.m., one hour earlier than they closed in 2010.
In the 1st Congressional District, which runs along most of the north and eastern parts of the state, freshman Democratic Rep. David Cicilline faces a stiff challenge from first-time Republican candidate Brendan Doherty, former head of the state police. The last time a Republican was elected to the House from Rhode Island was in 1992, when Rep. Ron Machtley was elected to a third term. Republicans believe they have their best shot in years in winning a U.S. House seat.
Cicilline, who was mayor of Providence for eight years before being elected to Congress two years ago, has been harshly criticized for saying during his 2010 campaign that the city’s finances were in excellent condition. That turned out not to be the case.
He survived a bruising Democratic primary with businessman Anthony Gemma in September and entered the general election with less money than Doherty to wage the general election campaign. Doherty has run on the motto of “uncommon integrity” and painted Cicilline as a liar who can’t be trusted.
Cicilline has argued to voters that casting a ballot for Doherty would advance the Republican agenda in Congress, a powerful argument in a state where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans more than three to one. He has tried to link Doherty to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan and other national Republican figures.
During the final days of the campaign, national Republicans and Democrats have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into TV attack ads, including one that goes after Cicilline for his past as a criminal defense attorney and ties him to a child molester and murderer he defended two decades ago.
Whitehouse is running for a second term in the U.S. Senate against Republican Barry Hinckley.
The year’s most closely watched legislative race comes courtesy of Providence independent candidate Mark Binder, who’s challenging Fox over his role in the loan guarantee to Schilling’s 38 Studios. The last time a sitting House speaker was defeated in a re-election bid was in 1906.
The state’s two slot parlors are pushing ballot measures that would authorize them to offer table games such as poker and blackjack. Voters as recently as 2006 defeated a plan to expand gambling in the state, but since then, Massachusetts has approved building casinos.
Twin River and Newport Grand contribute about $300 million a year to the state, and their owners say the Massachusetts casinos will threaten that unless they are allowed to expand.
Other ballot initiatives would issue bonds for several building projects, including a $94 million veterans home, a $50 million plan to renovate campus buildings at Rhode Island College, a $25 million affordable housing initiative, $20 million for open space and recreational facilities and a $20 million wastewater and drinking water construction project.
The polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
