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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A campaign worker for Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos was charged with falsifying nomination papers in the official’s failed run for U.S. Congress last year.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General said 43-year-old Christopher Cotham was charged for his alleged role in the gathering of fraudulent signatures to benefit Matos’s campaign.
In August of last year, the Rhode Island Board of Elections revealed it looked into all 1,285 signatures gathered, approving 726 and disqualifying 559.
The board reported that, among those disqualified, 29 were blank, four were duplicates, 281 of the signatures were unregistered voters, 38 were ineligible, 126 signatures did not match, and 81 were in the wrong district.
Matos maintained that she had collected “more than enough” signatures to be on the ballot for the 1st Congressional District special election.
Representative Gabe Amo went on to win the primary, with Matos receiving just 8% of the vote.
On Monday, Cotham was charged with with two counts of falsely making a nomination paper while knowing it to be falsely made, and two counts of submitting nomination papers to election officials containing information known to be false.
Matos released the following statement regarding the charges:
“It is vital that the people who demeaned Rhode Island’s democratic process are held accountable for their actions. As I’ve said from day one, this is a serious crime that was perpetrated against Rhode Islanders’ confidence in our state’s free and fair elections, and I am more invested than anyone in a thorough and public investigation.
“I’m glad to learn that the Attorney General has taken this important step forward in that process. I will continue to support our justice system in any way I can to ensure the truth comes to light, as well as supporting reforms to the reporting structure to protect our democratic process.”
Officials said a pre-trial conference for Cotham is scheduled for April 11 at 10:30 a.m.
WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
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