The Boston Globe29%
R.I. uses same vendor as N.J. but does not expect same problems with noncitizens voting 76%
By Edward Fitzpatrick33%
7/22/2026, 3:32:06 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 23 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Anchoring Bias, and Status Quo Bias, with Hasty Generalization as the most egregious example at 21.5% saturation with 167 hits. Analysis detected 1,107 faulty-reasoning hits from 778 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 67.2% and a BS Rank of 76% (5,450 of 21,886 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 75.10% of the article peer group.
PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island uses the vendor involved in a software error blamed for allowing noncitizens to vote in New Jersey, but state officials on Wednesday said there is no indication Rhode Island faces the same problem.
On Tuesday, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill said about 6,600 people who indicated they were noncitizens while obtaining New Jersey driver’s licenses and other state IDs were improperly registered to vote in 2023 and 2024.
Sherrill, a Democrat, blamed a Motor Vehicle Commission system software error but said a preliminary analysis showed that fewer than 400 of those who registered that way went on to cast ballots.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg M.
Amore, a Democrat, issued a statement Wednesday, saying, “At this time, there is no indication that a similar issue has occurred here.”
Since 2019, the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles has been conducting a regular audit of a randomized selection of driver records to ensure that database entries match paper records, Amore said.
That process would identify any irregularities in registrations so that they could be immediately rectified, he said.
“The Rhode Island Department of State remains confident in the integrity of Rhode Island’s voter rolls,” Amore said.
But he said his office has now requested a meeting with Rhode Island’s Division of Motor Vehicles and its vendor.
In addition, he said his office requested a complete system review with the DMV.
Rhode Island Department of Revenue spokesman Paul Grimaldi said the Division of Motor Vehicles has employed IDEMIA as a vendor for credentialing and software services since 2002.
That’s the same vendor used by New Jersey.
In a conference call Wednesday, IDEMIA “assured the Department of Revenue and its Division of Motor Vehicles that the Rhode Island system differs enough from the New Jersey system that RI DMV is not at risk for the same issues that NJ DMV is experiencing,” Grimaldi said in a statement.
Every other month, the Division of Motor Vehicles and the Secretary of State’s Office work to audit random transaction samplings, and so far no issues have been identified like those in New Jersey, he said.
“IDEMIA continues to work with the RI DMV and the Secretary of State’s Office to validate procedures and ensure accuracy,” Grimaldi said.
IDEMIA, a French multinational company, issued a statement saying the responsibility ultimately rests with New Jersey officials.
“The voter registration information is transmitted to the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Elections, which is ultimately responsible for verifying eligibility to vote,” the company said.
“Information submitted by IDEMIA must still be validated and adjudicated by the Division of Elections.”
In Rhode Island, independent candidate for governor Ken Block urged Amore to “conduct a comprehensive investigation into the possibility that non-citizens have been incorrectly registered to vote” in Rhode Island.
“While Secretary Amore’s statement mentioned existing DMV efforts to spot check that DMV paperwork matched what ended up in the computer systems, that is not the same thing as looking to make certain that every voter registration record that originated from the DMV system was eligible to be a registered voter,” Block said in a statement.
“A full investigation should be conducted to look carefully for any eligibility errors.”
He noted Rhode Island uses the same vendor that New Jersey used to link their Motor Vehicle Commission to state election systems for voter registration purposes.
“The integrity of our elections is of paramount importance,” Block said.
“Our state uses the same vendor that incorrectly registered non-citizens to vote in New Jersey, so it’s imperative that Secretary of State Amore undertakes a comprehensive investigation of potential errors in Rhode Island’s system and reports back to the public with his findings.”
After the 2020 election, Block was hired by the Trump campaign to analyze claims of voter fraud, and he concluded there was no evidence to support the claim that voter fraud affected the outcome of the presidential election.
He wrote a book titled “Disproven: My Unbiased Search for Voter Fraud for the Trump Campaign, the Data that Shows Why He Lost, and How We Can Improve Our Elections.”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Aaron Guckian posted a message on social media, saying, “Rhode Islanders deserve answers.”
“We demand that Secretary of State Gregg Amore immediately conduct a full review of Rhode Island’s voter registration system following the voter registration issues uncovered in New Jersey involving the same DMV vendor,” he wrote on X.
“Release the findings.
If credible evidence of election law violations is uncovered, the RI State Police should investigate.
Rhode Islanders deserve transparency and confidence in our elections.”
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100%flagged-word coverageAaron Guckian
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