The state's most hotly contested mayoral race isn't even close.

02:07 AM EDT on Wednesday, September 15, 2004

BY DANIEL BARBARISI and SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
Journal Staff Writers

CRANSTON -- Incumbent Mayor Stephen P. Laffey crushed challenger Garry Reilly in a Republican primary election rife with miscues at the polls and allegations that both candidates' workers tried to manipulate the result.

Laffey won with 75 percent of the vote, 7,984 to 2,732, according to unofficial Providence Journal results. Reilly did not appear to have won any of Cranston's 50 polling districts.

When the earliest results were announced at Laffey headquarters at more than 4-to-1 for Laffey, there was loud shrieking. Once a few more precincts reported similar results, the celebrating started.

"This wasn't a Republican primary tonight, it was a lot bigger. It was the people's primary," Laffey said at his Pontiac Avenue headquarters last night. "They said it was the battle for the soul of Rhode Island. This battle was fought tonight and the people won."

"An earthquake went off tonight in Cranston, and the tremors are being felt already from Westerly to Woonsocket," Laffey said.

Instead of campaigning, Reilly spent the last few hours discussing possible appeals and trying to get voting machines and provisional ballots impounded.

"This has been a fiasco all day long," he said.

Reilly and campaign chairman Larry Moses made that request to the city Board of Canvassers seconds before the polls closed at 9 p.m., and then headed to the state Board of Elections in Providence to make a similar plea. But before filing with the state, Reilly saw the election results and realized an appeal would be fruitless.

Journal photo / Sandor Bodo Cranston Mayor Stephen P. Laffey addresses his staff and supporters at his campaign headquarters on Pontiac Avenue after his over-whelming primary victory over Republican challenger Garry Reilly.

"The numbers are just too big," he said on his way back to Cranston to concede before a crowd at the Knights of Columbus hall. Shortly after 10 p.m., he started to read from a prepared speech, but instead threw it aside and said he was going to speak "from the heart."

The turnout of more than 10,500 dwarfed previous Republican primaries. The previous highest turnout in a Republican primary was in 1998, when 4,045 voters cast ballots in the race between Raymond Votto and Brock Bierman.

Almost one-fifth of the total electorate voted. There are 5,084 registered Republicans in Cranston, 16,367 registered Democrats, and 29,937 unaffiliated voters. There were 257 Republican absentee ballots still to be counted.

The conventional wisdom held through the day that turnout was the determining factor in this race. If it was high, Laffey would win, because he had energized his base. If it was low, Reilly would win, because he can count on a couple thousand union-affiliated voters.

There were numerous problems with the election process throughout the day, from voters believing they were registered in the wrong party, to acknowledged Democrats voting in the Republican primary because of mistakes made by poll workers.

There were several reports of problems with provisional ballots -- a new type of ballot used for residents who are not on voting lists, but say they should be.

To oversee the polling and keep the peace in what was expected to be a contentious election, the Board of Canvassers hired 75 police officers from the Cranston Police Department and from the state police to oversee the polling places, after Cranston Maj. Stephen McGrath warned that large groups of campaigners were expected outside the polling places.

That never materialized -- at some polling places, there were no campaigners, and at most others, there were only one or two people with signs.

But McGrath and Canvassing Board Chairman Kenneth McGunagle said that the police presence was important, both to make voters feel comfortable, and because there were instances where poll watchers from the Reilly and Laffey campaigns were making voters feel uncomfortable before the police stepped in.

"Poll watchers were harassing voters at several locations," McGunagle said.

By the end of the day, it was a primary election that had seen more twists and turns than any in Cranston's history. Laffey, 42, a first-term mayor, is known around the state for his attacks on the city's unions; Reilly, 53, a Realtor, was a virtual unknown before starting his campaign, having last held office 10 years ago on the School Committee.

But the unions strongly backed Reilly. Laffey charged that it was a plot to rig a small election by desperate groups who believed the first-term mayor was untouchable in a general election.

In June, the Laborers' International Union penned a letter to union-affiliated families in Cranston, asking them to disaffiliate from the Democratic party so that they could vote against Laffey in the Republican primary. That touched off a series of legal challenges.

Then, last month, Laffey and the firefighters' union went up against each other in a well-publicized scrum at a City Council meeting that the Police Department is investigating.

Through it all, Laffey and Reilly have been taking potshots at one another, Laffey calling Reilly a union stooge, and Reilly saying that Laffey is a liar who will ruin Cranston's reputation to make his own name in politics.

The two have not spoken since one heated confrontation in June.

Yesterday morning, Laffey informed the media that he would be voting at the Waterman School on Pontiac Avenue.

Reilly and a number of his supporters awaited Laffey there, toting large signs for their candidate.

At 10:30 a.m., Laffey walked up to the school with his wife, Kelly, and infant daughter, Audrey, at his side. Reporters and cameras crowded around him, as Laffey tore into his opponent, who stood 10 feet away.

"These are all . . . [union] stooges," Laffey said, pointing to Reilly's camp. "They're going to try to intimidate voters, and it's very sad."

Laffey walked in to the school to vote. Neither man acknowledged the other's presence. As of 10:45 last night, Reilly had not called to congratulate Laffey, and Laffey was not expected to call Reilly.

On Nov. 2, Laffey will face Democrat John O. Mancini, a former city councilman, and independent Lloyd R. Morse.