No Time to Fail

Rhode Island's local election administrators and poll workers work around the clock to secure the vote for their community during the 2020 election -- midst an onslaught of attacks from a sitting President and the deadly threat of a global pandemic. Once invisible to the general public, NO TIME TO FAIL spotlights election administrators as the ground zero of American democracy.

Rhode Island's local election administrators and poll workers work around the clock to secure the vote for their community during the 2020 election -- midst an onslaught of attacks from a sitting President and the deadly threat of a global pandemic. Once invisible to the general public, NO TIME TO FAIL spotlights election administrators as the ground zero of American democracy.

As mail-in ballots are dropped off in official drop boxes for 2020 presidential election, Rhode Island's election officials like Terri Bucci, Maria Madonna and Nick Lima must combat disinformation being spread to the media and on social media, making their jobs tougher during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rob Rock, the Director of Elections under the Secretary of State in Rhode Island, reviews the responses his office has received over mail-in ballots; these voters are upset over the option to vote by mail and believe the process is, for example, a hoax. Rock remains unfazed by the comments and continues to do the work to ensure a fair election for all.

Kathy Placencia, the Administrator of Elections in Providence, Rhode Island, inspects the line of residents waiting to vote in-person as well as the drop box for those voters who are using the mail-in ballot option. On election day, Placencia's responsibilities include setting up and overseeing the voting process at the polls.

Ahead of election day, Rhode Island's election officials work within the system to prevent voter fraud; checking signatures on official forms is only one of many methods of prevention. They are also available to answer any questions to help reassure the public that votes are legitimate and that elections are fair.

Kathy Placencia, the Administrator of Elections of Providence, Rhode Island, opens the door to the unbalanced life and work of an election official. Placencia and her many colleagues are dealing with the 2020 presidential election during the pandemic and must work through challenges they have never faced before including disinformation and the availability of mail-in ballots for all voters.

For the 2020 presidential election, voters chose to vote by mail and in-person in the middle of the pandemic. One of the most well known civic duties and responsibilities in America, voting became a source of division due to mistrust and disinformation yet the turnout was the highest in the 21st century (according to the U.S. Census, 66.8% of registered voters cast their ballots).