On Tuesday, the Rhode Island Board of Elections review found “no obvious pattern of fraud” in the nomination signatures submitted for Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos in the First Congressional District race.

Statement from John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island: 

“The Board of Elections did not find in its review of the signatures submitted by Lieutenant Governor Matos’ campaign a significant change in the total number of qualified signatures. It did reach different conclusions as to whether dozens of individual signatures were qualified, pointing to inconsistencies in the process at local boards of canvassers.

“It is clear that changes to the process must be made, including additional training, a clearer chain of communications when problem signatures are identified, more extensive regulations, and a revised election calendar that will give the Board of Elections more time to investigate in the future when questions arise about the validity of signatures.

“Common Cause looks forward to the Board’s further review of the issue at a later date and the results of the law enforcement investigation. We believe that the majority of the Board, that voted to keep this issue before them for future improvements, was correct, and Vice Chair Sholes’ continued dismissiveness of the issue from the beginning is concerning.”