All of the Statewide Referendums Approved - Twin River By the Slimest Margin
Wednesday, November 09, 2016
Restoring the Ethics Commission’s oversight of the legislature is one of the referendum questions that is a big winner Tuesday night. Rhode Island voters were asked to approve seven referendum measures and all of them were approved. But while ethics swept to victory, issues relating to Twin River’s move of Newport
Common Cause Rhode Island’s Executive Director John Marion said regarding the passage of Question 2, “By saying ‘yes’ on Question 2 today, voters said ‘yes’ to ethics, transparency, and a better Rhode Island. Because of this victory once again our lawmakers will be held accountable for any conflicts of interest, and citizens will know that legislators are serving the public interest, not their own self-interest. We send our sincere thanks to everyone involved with this effort. Whether you put up a yard sign, passed out literature, or filled in the bubble on Election Day, you helped make Rhode Island a better place to live and a better place to do business.”
Ethics restoration won with 77.5% of the vote.
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The expansion of gaming into Tiverton has won Statewide by a 55% to 45% margin, but in Tiverton, the proposed casino is holding on by just 250 votes. The referendum needs to win both statewide and in the host community. In Tiverton 3,927 approved the question (51.9%) and 3,644 voted opposed (48.1%). There are an estimated 800 paper ballots to be count.
Veterans Home Bonds — Question 3 — won by the largest margin — 83.6% approved the $27 million in funding.
Question 4 — over $45 million for URI engineering and innovation initiatives passed with 58.9% of the vote. According to the coalition pushing the ballot measure, “it will attract businesses and create the high-paying, high-skilled jobs Rhode Island needs by authorizing $45.5 million in bonds to expand URI’s highly successful College of Engineering and create a URI-affiliated innovation campus that will pair cutting edge research with private sector investments to create the jobs of the future.”
Funding for Quonset and ProvPort passed 62.7% — Question 5 totaled $70 million in combined funding for the two ports including $20 million for the privately owned ProvPort.
Rhode Islander’s support for the environment continued to show strength as 67% of Rhode Islanders voted in support of the “Green Economy Bonds.”
Lastly, the $50 million bond question to support affordable housing — it passed with 58% approval.
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