David Goldman / APVoters line up before polls open on Election Day at a precinct in Warren, Michigan, on Nov. 3, 2020.
Robert F. Bukaty / APCaution tape closes off a voting stall to help distance voters to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus during Election Day at the East End School, Nov. 3, 2020, in Portland, Maine.
Martha Asencio Rhine/Tampa Bay TimesBob McCabe works on privacy booths as poll officials set up at The Coliseum on Nov. 2, 2020, in preparation for Election Day in St. Petersburg, Florida.
David Goldman/APNon-partisan poll election challenger Richard Saad observes election inspectors as they begin to count ballots on Election Day at City Hall in Warren, Michigan, on Nov. 3, 2020.
Gerald Herbert/APA woman presents her identification to vote through a plexiglass barrier, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, on Election Day at the Matin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans on Nov. 3, 2020.
David Goldman / APElection inspector Ron Takala processes ballots as the counting of absentee votes begins on Election Day at City Hall in Warren, Michigan, in Macomb County, Nov. 3, 2020.
Amy Davis / Baltimore SunQuade Brown, 2, peeks out from under the station where his mother, Diamond Ausdy, was filling out her ballot on the final day for early voting in Baltimore.
David Goldman/APA voter enters to fill out a ballot on Nov, 2, 2020, the last day of early voting at the Northwest Activities Center in Detroit.
Mark Mirko / Hartford CourantOn the eve of the election, Lisa Ward, Chloe Shibeau and Terry Bitwinski, with the registrar of voters office in Mansfield, Connecticut, haul Election Day material including shields, privacy screens and sanitizer to the Mansfield Community Center polling location.
David Goldman/APAn election inspector checks the names of voters as the counting of ballots begins on Election Day at City Hall in Warren, Michigan, in Macomb County on Nov. 3, 2020.
Scott Eisen/APA man tallies the votes from the five ballots cast just after midnight on Nov. 3, 2020, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden received all five votes.
LM Otero/APVoters line up outside Vickery Baptist Church waiting to cast their ballots on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020, in Dallas.
Jeff Chiu/APLillian Lauer wears an "I Voted" sticker on her face mask after dropping off her ballot Nov. 2, 2020, in San Francisco.
Jae C. Hong/APThomas Morton casts his ballot at a vote center set up at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre on Nov. 3, 2020, in Los Angeles.
Mark Wallheiser / Getty ImagesVolunteer poll workers accept mail ballots outside the Leon County Supervisor of Elections office on Nov. 3, 2020, in Tallahassee, Florida.
Brad Horrigan/The Hartford CourantSandra Debrick, left, and the Rev. Judy Simpson open outer envelopes for absentee ballots at Bloomfield Town Hall on Nov 2, 2020. Only the outer envelopes were opened to expedite the ballot tabulation process on Election Day.
Brynn Anderson / APA poll worker talks to a voter before they vote on a paper ballot on Election Day in Atlanta on Nov. 3, 2020.
Mary Altaffer/APPoll workers help a senior citizen sign in to vote on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020, in New York.
Carlos Giusti/APOfficials count early votes at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum where social distancing is possible amid the COVID-19 pandemic, during general elections in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Nov. 3, 2020. In addition to electing a governor, Puerto Ricans are voting in a non-binding referendum on statehood.
Matt Slocum/APA woman and child walk out of a polling place during the 2020 general election in the United States on Nov. 3, 2020, in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania.
Eric Gay/APA jogger carries a Vote! flag as he passes a polling station, Nov. 3, 2020, in San Antonio.
Steve Helber / APVoters cast their ballots under a giant mural at Robious Elementary School on Election Day, in Midlothian, Virginia., on Nov. 3, 2020. Poll workers said that traffic was slow due to all the early voting in the precinct.
Jeff Chiu/APSan Francisco Department of Elections worker Michael Suenkel checks an envelope of a voter before it is placed in a ballot box at the Chase Center drop-off location in San Francisco on Nov. 2, 2020.
David Goldman / APElection challengers are sworn in before observing the counting of ballots on Election Day at City Hall in Warren, Michigan, on Nov. 3, 2020.
Darron Cummings/APDenise Pumphrey shouts "first-time voter" at the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, on Election Day on Nov. 3, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky.
Otto Kitsinger/APA voter fills out his ballot at the Owyhee County Museum on Election Day, in Murphy, Idaho, on Nov. 3, 2020.
Mike Morones / The Free Lance-Star/APVoters wait outside the Lee Hill polling location on Election Day in Spotsylvania, Virginia, on Nov. 3, 2020.
Jessica Hill/APVoters mark their ballots at First Presbyterian Church on Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020, in Stamford, Connecticut.
Andy Manis / Getty ImagesVoters cast their ballot at the Orpheum Theater on Nov. 3, 2020, in Madison, Wisconsin. For the first time the theater was opened for the election.
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Voters line up before polls open on Election Day at a precinct in Warren, Michigan, on Nov. 3, 2020.
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A statewide referendum that would shorten Rhode Island’s official name is on the ballot for Tuesday’s election in the Ocean State.
Rhode Island was incorporated as The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations when it declared statehood in 1790, and voters are being asked to strip the “and Providence Plantations” wording. Although the word “Plantations” in Rhode Island’s name doesn’t specifically refer to a place where slaves labored, the measure’s backers say it’s offensive at a time when the nation is confronting racial injustice.
Rhode Island’s ties to the slavery era are undeniably deep. Merchants from the state played a key role in the transatlantic slave trade, launching more than 1,000 voyages to buy and ship slaves from Africa and the Caribbean.