PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rhode Island Board of Elections mentioned Tuesday that its assessment of nomination signatures submitted by the congressional marketing campaign of Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos discovered “no obvious pattern of fraud,” however will proceed to analyze to guard the integrity of the democratic course of.
The assessment was carried out after election officers in three communities within the 1st Congressional District requested native police departments to analyze suspected fraudulent signatures on nomination papers submitted by the Matos marketing campaign. The state legal professional basic and state police then bought concerned within the investigation.
The nomination papers allegedly included the names of useless individuals and a few from individuals who mentioned their names have been cast.
Despite the alleged fraud, the board confirmed that Matos’s marketing campaign had collected greater than sufficient voter signatures to qualify for the Sept. 5 main poll to hunt the Democratic nomination within the race to succeed former Rep. David Cicilline.
Cicilline stepped down earlier this summer time to turn into the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation.
The board voted to proceed investigating and can subject subpoenas to the entire individuals who collected signatures for Matos, however not till after the first in order to not affect the result of the particular election.
“Continuing on this parallel path to the attorney general will lead to some chaos in election,” Board Vice Chairman David Sholes mentioned, noting that early voting begins Wednesday.
Matos, one in all a dozen Democrats working to interchange Cicilline, blamed the questionable signatures on an outdoor vendor employed by her marketing campaign.
“The Board of Elections has affirmed what my campaign has said all along and what the Secretary of State previously found: despite being the victim of a vendor who lied to my campaign, we submitted more than enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot,” Matos mentioned in an announcement Tuesday.
Matos was the presumed front-runner and her Democratic opponents used the scandal to assault her.
“It is unfortunate that the guys who are running against me have used this as an opportunity to attempt to smear my reputation and call into question our democratic process,” she mentioned.
Matos’ marketing campaign has mentioned it’s cooperating with the legal professional basic’s investigation. A spokesperson for the legal professional basic mentioned Tuesday that the investigation is ongoing.
Attorney General Peter Neronha has mentioned his workplace would look at the nomination types the Matos marketing campaign submitted in each municipality within the district.
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