{"id":110754,"date":"2026-09-15T15:09:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T15:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=110754"},"modified":"2026-09-15T15:28:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T15:28:45","slug":"two-uri-students-create-rhode-island-elections-project-website-to-educate-community-on-state-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/09\/two-uri-students-create-rhode-island-elections-project-website-to-educate-community-on-state-races\/","title":{"rendered":"Two URI students create \u2018Rhode Island Elections Project\u2019 website to educate community on state races"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Sept. 15, 2026 \u2013 For local voters, the endless barrage of messages and campaign promises from those seeking elective office can be overwhelming. So much so that voters may still be undecided as to who to cast their ballot for as they near election day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two University of Rhode Island students, however, took the initiative earlier this year to build a website that makes information about the state\u2019s legislative elections easier to understand for voters across the state. Created by Nicholas Labriola<\/a>, a second-year master\u2019s candidate in international relations from Germany and teaching assistant in URI\u2019s Department of Political Science<\/a>, and Fabio Muscianisi<\/a>, a sophomore from Italy majoring in chemical engineering, the Rhode Island Elections Project<\/a> is an independent, nonpartisan initiative that seeks to bridge the gap between government records and civic knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Nicholas Labriola, a second-year master\u2019s candidate in international relations from Germany and teaching assistant in URI\u2019s Department of Political Science. (Courtesy Nicholas Labriola.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Their collaborative website, unaffiliated with URI, outlines who is running for office for both the Rhode Island House of Representatives and Senate, what issues they are campaigning on, who they are running against, endorsements, campaign funds raised and who contributed, along with other pertinent election information. The initiative encourages informed participation in local elections while demonstrating how data visualization and technology can strengthen democratic engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal with this website is not to impose on the voters which candidate is better, but rather to help a person view a candidate who may have similar goals and beliefs as they do,\u201d Muscianisi said, \u201cand make the most informed decision possible in an upcoming election.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Educating the community<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muscianisi and Labriola began their website endeavor in May working approximately five hours a day building their own code to make the site operational. While doing the technical work, they\u2019ve also collected data about every Rhode Island House and Senate candidate seeking office this election year to include for public consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Fabio Muscianisi, a sophomore from Italy majoring in chemical engineering at URI. (Courtesy Fabio Muscianisi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Rhode Island Elections Project platform offers prospective voters more in-depth information about House and Senate candidates looking to represent their respective communities at the State House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can type in a name of a candidate, or your home address, and you’re going to get a personalized ballot, or a profile on the candidate that you’re searching for, with details on their campaign finance, on their campaign priorities, how they were rated by the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, and so forth,\u201d Labriola said. \u201cWe have a rating system, and you can see what leadership positions they have in the Senate or the House, if they’re in leadership or not, and their performance as a legislator.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For incumbents, the website also shows how many legislative sessions a candidate has attended during their terms, what bills they introduced and which ones passed. There is also a full rundown of which political action committees have donated to certain campaigns; Labriola was quite surprised how much has been donated to races that are mostly uncontested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ve become more uncompetitive than ever before, but at the same time, we’re more expensive than ever as well, which is such a weird irony,\u201d Labriola said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Labriola and Muscianisi hope this website not only better informs Rhode Islanders on who is running for office and where they stand on issues, but also hopefully encourages others to seek office. Labriola says close to two-thirds of all the Rhode Island Senate races are uncontested. They also hope they can expand their work in the future by showcasing both the governor\u2019s race and local municipal elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about the Rhode Island Election Project, visit <\/em>the initiative\u2019s website<\/em><\/a> or follow its <\/em>profile on LinkedIn<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Sept. 15, 2026 \u2013 For local voters, the endless barrage of messages and campaign promises from those seeking elective office can be overwhelming. So much so that voters may still be undecided as to who to cast their ballot for as they near election day. Two University of Rhode Island students, however, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":110756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12,25,1913,1905],"class_list":["post-110754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-public-engagement","tag-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110754"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110763,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110754\/revisions\/110763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}