Voters head to the polls across Aquidneck Island for CD1 primary. How busy has it been?

Non-presidential elections have a reputation for low turnout, but across Aquidneck Island, hundreds of people stopped by their local polling places to vote in the 1st Congressional District primary.

In the late morning and early afternoon, polling places throughout the northern half of Aquidneck Island all had a similar light stream of voters steadily flowing in and out of their doors. St. Barnabas Church in Portsmouth had 164 voters turn out before 12:30 P.M.

“We’ve had a greater turnout than we expected,” Moderator Richard Cope said.

Outside the church, state Sen. Linda Ujifusa, state Rep. Michelle McGaw and Town Councilor Len Katzman held signs in support of CD1 Democratic candidate Aaron Regunberg, saying they believe he will actively support causes they care about. All three are members of the Portsmouth Democrats, which they said is pretty active, often having members stand at polling locations to support a candidate.

“He’s not going to just push a button,” McGaw said. “He’s going to fight.”

A friendly rivalry broke out between St. Barnabas Church and Common Fence Point, the other most-populated polling location in Portsmouth, to see which location had the most people turning out to vote and whether they could get more of their voters to use the new ExpressVote machines. By 1 p.m., Common Fence Point had 175 voters cast their ballots, 25% of which used the ExpressVote Machine, Assistant Moderator Michael Costello said.

Both Cope and Costello said the morning had been a little slow, but they expected turnout to increase in the evening as people get off of work.

The two polling places in Middletown were not as close when it came to the number of voters hitting the polls before lunch. Middletown High School had about 110 voters having cast their ballots by 1:30 p.m. Gaudet Middle School on the other hand was a little busier, with 210 people voting before noon. Co-Moderator Carmela Geer said the flow has been pretty steady despite the lower turnouts associated with non-presidential primaries. As a moderator, Geer said she likes working the polls as a way to connect to her community.

“It’s an opportunity to see people I haven’t seen in a while,” Geer said.

Outside Gaudet, Middletown resident Irene Lafaille said she showed up to vote in the CD1 primary in part because she’s politically active in general. She did not want to share who she voted for, saying it was hard to decide among the many candidates and she did not want anyone to feel bad.

“It’s important who you send to Washington,” Lafaille said.

In Newport, where nine precincts have been consolidated into three polling locations, poll workers had voters filing in every few minutes or so. Park Holm Senior Center Poll Warden David Drooker said this is the busiest polling location he’s worked so far because of the consolidated precincts. At Newport Library, Poll Warden Meredith LeBlanc shared a similar sentiment.

“It’s been quite good for a primary,” LeBlanc said.

Donovan Manor on Chapel Street had four precincts to serve, the most in Newport. Poll Warden Gene Thompson-Grove, who worked at Donovan Manor during the 2022 election, said they’ve seen nearly as many people come in to cast their ballots by 3:30 p.m. as they did by the end of the day during the 2022 general election, at about 334.

“It’s steady,” Thompson-Grove said. “It’s actually been kind of nice.”

Outside the polling place, Vanessa Soares raised a campaign sign for CD1 candidate Sandra Cano. She said she believes Cano is someone who will inspire change and keep her promises. Soares has been urging her neighbors at the Park Holm Housing Complex and around Donovan Manor to show up to the polls in general, as well.

“I’m here to empower us all to vote,” Soares said. “If we all start to vote, they’ll start to listen.”

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Congressional special election turns out voters in Newport County