Newport Board of Canvassers this morning asked Newport Police to investigate possible fraudulent signatures submitted on behalf of Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos for her candidacy for the vacant District 1 U.S. House of Representatives seat.
An investigation is already underway by Jamestown Police, also questioning the validity of signatures submitted on behalf of Matos.
In both cases, the questionable signatures were submitted by Holly McLaren on behalf of the lieutenant governor.
The Secretary of State’s office was reporting that Matos had submitted 729 signatures, of which all but one was certified. Matos is one of 15 candidates, 13 of whom are Democrats, that were certified by the Secretary of State’s office to qualify for placement on the September primary election ballot.
There’s a 4 p.m. deadline today for anyone to challenge the nomination papers, and at 5 p.m. ballot position will be determined by the Secretary of State, via a lottery system.
Stephen Waluk of the Newport Board of Canvassers said the Canvassers met this morning to refer the matter to local police. Initially, he said, McLaren had submitted 32 signatures to the Newport Board of Canvassers, of which 14 were determined to be invalid. The board then submitted the 18 valid names, along with others collected in Newport to the Secretary of State’s office.
Only validated signatures are forwarded to the Secretary of State, Waluk said. Boards of Canvassers initially validate signatures before sending the valid signatures to the Secretary of State.
Since submitting signatures, Waluk said three individuals, also on McLaren’s list, said that they had not signed the nomination papers.
Jamestown apparently questioned several signatures, including one they had said was that of a deceased individual.
