Matos signatures in Newport will also be referred to police. What we know

The criminal investigation into suspected false nomination signatures filed by Sabina Matos' congressional campaign widened Wednesday and her political opponents launched challenges to her place on the September primary ballot.

Newport became the second Rhode Island community – after Jamestown – to refer potentially fraudulent Matos campaign signatures to police, who are now being coordinated by investigators under Attorney General Peter Neronha.

Later in the day two formal challenges, one by renewable-energy investor Donald Carlson's campaign and another from the Rhode Island Working Families Party, were sent to Secretary of State Gregg Amore.

"Preliminary investigation has uncovered demonstrably fraudulent signatures on Matos’ nomination papers in at least two separate jurisdictions – including instances of signatures of people who have died, people who have moved away and people who deny ever signing these nomination papers," Nicholas Marroletti, Carlson's campaign manager, wrote in a letter to Amore. "No satisfactory explanation has been offered by Sabina Matos or her campaign for these stark irregularities."

The challenge came after the Newport Canvassing Authority on Wednesday morning sent to the Newport police signatures the Matos campaign submitted in the city that its members suspected might not have been signed by eligible Newport voters.

Newport canvassing officials said questions about signatures 'highly unusual'

Newport Canvassing Authority Chairwoman Sharon Connors told reporters after the meeting, "We had questions about" as many as half of the signatures collected by the campaign on one particular page, something she described as "highly unusual."

"We turned that over to the Police Department," she said.

More: Matos allegedly submits fraudulent signatures, Jamestown officials investigating

Who collected the signatures?

The Newport signatures were collected by Matos campaign supporter Holly Cekala McClaren of Providence, the same person who collected signatures for Matos that the Jamestown Board of Canvassers suspected of being fraudulent.

McClaren did not answer the doorbell at her Smith Hill three-decker Wednesday afternoon, and an upstairs neighbor told a reporter she was not home.

McClaren was featured in one of Gov. Dan McKee's most memorable reelection campaign ads last year – one that attacked Republican Ashley Kalus for not being "from around here."

"Ashley, that's not Rhode Island," McClaren said in a thick Rhode Island accent in one part of the ad.

McClaren also worked as a field organizer on the ballot referendum last year that authorized Providence to borrow $515 million to help pay pension debts. She was paid $6,300 by the campaign, called the Committee to Save Providence, according to its filings with the state Board of Elections.

The Jamestown board asked the Jamestown Police Department to investigate Matos' signatures on Monday, and and officers there asked Neronha's office for help.

Now that multiple communities and police departments are involved, Neronha's office is "taking the lead," spokesman Brian Hodge confirmed Wednesday.

More: Which CD1 candidates qualified for the ballot? Here's what we know.

At the point the attorney general's office gets involved, "we're investigating potential criminal misconduct." Neronha told The Journal.

Asked if the investigation at that point was focused only on signatures collected by McClaren, he said, "I can't comment on that."

About 30% of Matos' signatures rejected

On Tuesday, WPRI-TV reported that at least three of the people listed on Matos' Newport nomination papers said they had not signed the petition.

Local boards of canvassers across the 1st District certified 729 registered voter signatures for Matos, clearing the 500-signature hurdle to get on the ballot, according to Amore's office.

Of those signatures, 194 signatures were collected by McClaren, according to a Journal review of the papers.

Local election officials also threw out 209 McClaren-collected signatures for various reasons, including her own signature nominating Matos. The reason: McClaren lives in the 2nd Congressional District.

Nearly 500 Matos signatures submitted by campaign workers were rejected by local canvassers, roughly 30% of all the signatures the campaign collected.

The largest number of validated signatures for Matos – 433 – were collected by her husband, Patrick Ward. He collected another 150 that were rejected. Erlin Rogel, senior adviser to Matos in the lieutenant governor's office, collected 10 signatures for the campaign and all but one was accepted.

On Wednesday morning, Democratic primary rival Gabe Amo called for a full state investigation of what he described as "instances of election fraud."

"It is disheartening to think that the signatures of both dead and living Rhode Islanders have been forged on her papers in at least two of the 19 municipalities in the 1st Congressional District," Amo said. “There has been no accountability from the Lt. Governor. It is shocking and disturbing that the Lt. Governor has not held a press conference to take questions directly from the press nor spoken directly to Rhode Islanders."

The Matos campaign has not answered questions about how it collected signatures and what could have led to so many signatures being rejected or suspected of being fraudulent.

"While it is clear we have submitted more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, I am deeply troubled by what has been reported in the news," Matos campaign manager Brexton Isaacs said in a statement Wednesday that echoed the campaign's response on Monday.

Ballot order lottery Wednesday night

The secretary of state's office held a lottery at 5 p.m. Wednesday to decide the order each of the 12 Democrats and two Republicans who qualified to be placed on the ballot.

And on Friday afternoon, the Board of Elections is scheduled to meet to take up any challenges to nomination signatures.

Even after the lottery, there is a period when Amore can remove names from the ballot if a candidate withdraws or is found ineligible.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Sabina Matos signatures in Newport questioned, police will investigate