Matos campaign worker charged with falsifying nomination papers

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.